The Last Multi-Tie Teams in NFL History- Cleveland Browns v. Kansas City Chiefs 12/2/1973

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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 2^nd, 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 28^th. However, the Chiefs were a formidable opponent, holding a 6-4-1 record with a draw against the Green Bay Packers on October 14^th.

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 14^th 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 11^th 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.