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| Photo Credit: Getty Images |
By Zane Miller
Starting
with the 2025 season, the National Football League made a significant change to
their overtime rules in regular season games, dictating that both teams must have
at least one possession during the OT period (with the exception of one team
having a drive lasting the entire overtime). While this was a rule change that
many fans had been clamoring for in the years leading up to the eventual switch,
it comes with the consequence of additional games ending in ties.
Since the
league did not adjust the 10-minute overtime length to account for the extra
mandatory possession, the likelihood of OT games ending in a deadlock has taken
a notable increase. Therefore, I might be running out of time to cover the last
time an NFL team posted more than one tie in a single season, which occurred
just over 52 years ago. By coincidence, this involved both participating teams
posting their second tie simultaneously.
On
December 2nd, 1973, the Cleveland Browns headed to Arrowhead Stadium
to take on the Kansas City Chiefs as the end of the regular season drew near. The
Browns came in with a strong 7-3-1 record, tying against the San Diego (now Los
Angeles) Chargers on October 28th. However, the Chiefs were a
formidable opponent, holding a 6-4-1 record with a draw against the Green Bay
Packers on October 14th.
Starting
under center for the Browns would be quarterback Mike Phipps, who was in the
midst of his second full season at the NFL level. The year before, Phipps took
the reins from the soon-to-be retired Bill Nelsen and led Cleveland to a
playoff appearance at 10-4 on the year, with 1973 shaping up to be more of the
same. For Kansas City, they would bring out their veteran backup Mike
Livingston, who had assumed the starting role after their future Hall of Fame
quarterback Len Dawson went down with a season-ending foot injury.
At this
point in the 1973 season, there had been five tie games played already, with
overtime having not yet been established for regular season games. All contests
would end after 60 minutes, no ifs, ands or buts, and obviously this led to a large
number of ties over the first 50+ years of the league’s existence. In fact, both
the Green Bay Packers and Denver Broncos had already reached the two-tie mark, doing
so on October 14th and November 4th respectively. Regardless, on an
unseasonably warm (yet still windy) December afternoon in Kansas City, there
was about to be another one.
After the
Browns were forced to punt away the opening possession, the Chiefs were able to
set up for a 45-yard field goal attempt, but it went wide right of the mark. This
set the tone for much of the first half, with both teams unable to take advantage
of scoring opportunities. Kansas City quickly got the ball back, but lost a
fumble on their first play when running back Ed Podolak was clobbered by
veteran defensive lineman Walter Johnson. However, the Chiefs defense made a
play of their own, as linebacker Jim Lynch took the ball away on a sack-fumble
of Phipps with Cleveland already in the red zone. This set up a lengthy scoring
drive, with the Chiefs’ other running back Willie Ellison getting his team into
the red zone on a 19-yard gain. A few plays later, Livingston broke through
with an 11-yard touchdown pass to wideout Elmo Wright, making it a 7-0 game
shortly before the end of the first quarter.
The teams
traded punts to begin the second quarter, but the Browns were able to get
something going after a 15-yard completion from Phipps to former Chief Frank
Pitts. While the drive stalled from there, kicker Don Rockroft was still able
to put through a 44-yard field goal to cut the lead to 7-3. On the ensuing
drive, the Browns appeared to have forced another fumble, but the Chiefs were saved
by an offsides penalty. This brought on future Hall of Famer Jan Stenerud for a
long field goal try, but it was blocked by Jerry Sherk to set Cleveland up with
a short field. While the Browns again were able to get into the red zone, they
were thwarted by cornerback Nate Allen, who forced a fumble from fullback Ken
Brown with less than a minute to go in the half. The Chiefs tried a field goal with
Stenerud, but he had his third miss of the game from 47 yards out to bring the
half to an end.
With the
Chiefs still holding a slim advantage to start the second half, they would get
some breathing room on their first possession. After the Browns squandered their
opening drive on yet another fumble (yes, the Browns received both the first
and second half kickoffs), this time forced by defensive end and former Brown
Marvin Upshaw, Stenerud knocked through a short field goal to put the team
ahead 10-3. A couple punts later, the Chiefs had the chance to build their lead
further, sitting at fourth-and-one at the Cleveland 19-yard line. Instead of trying
another short field goal, coach Hank Stram opted to go for it with a
quarterback sneak. It’s important to mention that Livingston had been injured just
a couple of plays earlier, forcing backup QB Pete Beathard into the game. While
Beathard was a capable enough backup, he was in what would be his final year in
the NFL and had not taken a snap in over a month. With that, the Browns were
ready for the sneak, with Beathard being devoured by the defensive line for no
gain.
The Browns
quickly gave the ball back on a three-and-out, but received a lifeline as a
botched handoff was jumped on by linebacker Bob Babich in Chiefs territory. Despite
a 20-yard defensive pass interference penalty, the Browns were unable to find
the end zone, settling for a 28-yard field goal to make it a 10-6 contest going
into the fourth quarter.
Once the
final frame got underway, the Chiefs were finally able to get their offense in
motion with Beathard under center. He hit longtime wide receiver Otis Taylor for
a 26-yard completion, before Ellison ran for a pair of nine-yard gains to put Kansas
City at the doorstep of a two-possession lead. However, the Browns defense pulled
together for a goal line stand, forcing the Chiefs to settle for another short
field goal.
Once
again, the Browns offense could do nothing with their next possession, compelled
to punt after a three-and-out. On the return, however, Podolak made up for his early
fumble with a 48-yard runback, putting the Chiefs into the red zone right off
the bat. The defense couldn’t bail out the Browns this time, as Podolak eventually
punched it in himself on a two-yard TD run. With the Chiefs ahead 20-6 as six minutes
remained in the game, Browns rookie running back Greg Pruitt sensed it was time
to put the team on his back.
After
being taken early in the second round of the 1973 draft out of Oklahoma, Pruitt
had yet to make much of an impact in Cleveland. Coming into December, he had
been used sparingly out of the backfield with Brown and veteran running back Leroy
Kelly (in the final season of a Hall of Fame career) taking most of the
handoffs. However, Pruitt still showed flashes in the few games he did receive
significant playing time, such as getting 66 yards and a touchdown on November
11th against the Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans). Pruitt would
nearly match that total on just one play. Running a handoff down the right
sideline, he outpaced multiple chasing defenders for a critical 65-yard score
to flip the momentum in Cleveland’s favor for the first time all afternoon. The
extra point went through without issue, trimming the deficit to one possession.
While the
touchdown was surely a kick in the teeth for Kansas City, all they needed was
another strong and ideally time-consuming drive from their offense, and they
were still in good shape. Of course, the re-energized Browns defense had other
ideas, holding them to a three-and-out as Cleveland grabbed the ball back with over
four minutes remaining. They wouldn’t even need half of that, with Phipps
finding trusty tight end Milt Morin from midfield. Morin collected the pass at
the 25-yard line, but found himself swarmed by the hard-hitting combo of linebacker
Willie Lanier and safety Mike Sensibaugh. However, Morin somehow slipped
through both defenders and ran by a desperation jersey grab for the team’s
second touchdown with less than three minutes to play. The all-important extra
point was in fact good, as the Browns clawed back to an even 20-20 score.
Of course,
with time still remaining, both teams were keen not to tie and instead win it
for themselves. The Chiefs’ ensuing drive went nowhere, giving Cleveland the
chance to fully complete the comeback with roughly a minute and a half left on
the table. However, despite the offense being red hot right before, the Browns
also couldn’t do anything of note, punting it away for a ninth time. With 35
seconds left, Beathard tried a few desperation passes to get into field goal
range, but this too came up short as the Browns and Chiefs settled for the
20-20 tie.
Despite the
draw putting the Browns at 7-3-2, they would be eliminated from the playoffs
with a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals the next week, eventually wrapping up the
season at 7-5-2. Coincidentally, the Chiefs would also end the year at 7-5-2 as
Livingston’s injury did not prevent him from returning, but they too missed the
postseason. For 1974, the league adopted overtime play for regular season play,
though unlike the playoffs this was limited to a 15-minute quarter (later
shortened to 10 minutes in 2017). Since this rule change, no team has tied more
than once in a season, though the St. Louis (now Los Angeles) Rams and San
Francisco 49ers came dangerously close to doing so in 2012. After tying in their
first meeting, the return matchup also went deep into overtime. With just 30
seconds on the clock in OT, the Rams sent out rookie kicker Greg Zuerlein for a
54-yard field goal attempt. A miss would almost guarantee the game ending in a
tie, but Zuerlein was able to get the kick through the left upright for the
Rams’ victory. The 1973 Browns-Chiefs matchup remains as the last bastion of
the pre-overtime era, but only time will tell how long it stays as the last
time any team collected multiple ties in the same season.
