The other difference is that in the regular season case, if the first team to possess scores a field goal, and the second team still hasn’t scored but still has their initial possession when the 10 minutes clock expires, the game ends and the first team wins. I swear this happened last season but can’t remember any details.
In the playoffs, if the same situation occurs, the second team gets to continue playing until their possession ends even if the clock expires. So when the Chiefs were down by 3 and the clock was running down on the 1st OT period, they didn’t have to worry about taking timeouts because the game would continue into a 2nd OT period until they either scored or lost possession.
Almost. No halftimes-like intermission. There’s just the normal 2 minute break between overtime periods. And 3 timeouts for every 2 overtime periods played.
If there’s no winner after 4 overtime periods, there’s another coin toss and kickoff. The rules don’t explicitly state what happens after 8 overtime periods, but I’m not sure any players for either team would still be standing after 12 quarters of football in a single night so perhaps an edge case that doesn’t need to be addressed.
I’m not 100% sure on this, but I think there’s a 2 minute warning on the even overtime periods.
On a more sobering topic, I’ve been watching the SB victory parade and rally in Kansas City. After the speeches as the crowd was beginning to break up, evidently shots were fired somewhere in the crowd near Union Station. Several people reportedly have been struck by bullets.
Every player should know the overtime rules. They’ve been playing football for many years and understand the Super Bowl is different. The coaches should have brought it to their attention again, and it is on them to do so. And the referee explanation was succinct and clear, as were the announcers when time was dwindling. Not much sympathy here, even if it might be a source of mild confusion because of the regular rules.