<P> All organized forms of American football have abolished pure sudden death for overtime as of the 2011 season . Most levels of the game, including high school football and college football, never used it, instead either allowing ties to stand or using alternatives like the Kansas Playoff . The National Football League was an exception; the league used pure sudden death in its playoffs beginning in 1940 and in regular season matchups starting in 1974, finally modifying its process for playoffs in 2010 and then regular season games in 2011 . </P> <P> Originally, all National Football League games tied at the end of regulation time ended as a tie . Late in the 1940 season, NFL President Carl Storck announced that sudden death periods would be authorized for any playoff game needed to decide either division title . It was emphasized that this did not apply to the final championship game, which would crown co-champions in the event of a tie . Commissioner Elmer Layden approved a similar arrangement for the 1941 season, with the same limitation . In the years when it was within the rules, the NFL Championship Game only ended in a tie in the 1958 NFL Championship Game . It didn't occur in the Super Bowl until Super Bowl LI (51). </P> <P> Sudden death overtime was finally approved for the NFL championship game in 1946 and remains in effect now . The first playoff game requiring overtime was the 1958 NFL Championship Game . </P> <P> In 1974, the NFL adopted a 15 - minute sudden - death overtime period for regular - season games; by 2017 it was cut to 10 minutes . The game ended as a tie if neither team scores in overtime . When a team gets near the end zone, it typically tried to kick a field goal . An overtime game can also be won by scoring a touchdown (in such an event, the extra point is not attempted). This usually happened on a play that began with field position far enough away from the end zone to make a field goal difficult if not impossible, but it can also result from a team choosing not to attempt a field goal until reaching fourth down, even if the team enters an easy field goal range; this strategy only works if the team can maintain possession of the ball and does not fumble the ball away, throw an interception or lose enough yardage to back out of field goal range . Only thrice has an overtime game been won by a safety . In recent years, sportscasters have referred to such scoring plays as "walk - offs," as both teams can walk off the field after the play . </P>

Where did the term sudden death come from