Did Chiefs have advantage over 49ers in Super Bowl overtime? Justin Reid outlines Andy Reid’s strict plan which helped KC win

Rumors surfaced that Andy Reid might retire from coaching after Super Bowl 58. But while it’s uncertain if that claim will happen, what’s definitive is his spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame after guiding the Kansas City Chiefs to their third Super Bowl title in five seasons.

Mentoring elite players like Chris Jones, L’Jarius Sneed, Travis Kelce, and Patrick Mahomes makes his job easy. However, as the ship’s captain, Andy Reid continues to preach accountability and attention to detail, even if they are the best team in football.

Chiefs safety Justin Reid attested to his coach’s constant teaching while discussing the league’s revised overtime rules. In an Instagram post shared by ESPN, Reid said about the extra period:

“We’ve talked about it all year. We talked about it in training camp about how the rules were different in regular season versus the playoffs. Every week of the playoffs we talked about the overtime rule.”

Conversely, San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk and defensive tackle Arik Armstead revealed they weren’t aware of the new rules. This mindset starkly contrasts Andy Reid’s approach of ensuring everybody is on the same page.

Armstead said:

“I didn’t even know about the new playoff overtime rule, so it was a surprise to me. …They put it on the scoreboard, and everyone was like, ‘Oh, even if you score, they get a chance still.’”

Juszczyk added:

“You know what? I didn’t even realize the playoff rules were different in overtime. I assume you just want the ball to score a touchdown and win. I guess that’s not the case. I totally don’t know about the strategy there. We hadn’t talked about it, no.”

These statements from Armstead and Juszczyk mean that the Niners were out of sync as the game went to an extension. Had they remembered the rules, their strategy might have changed after winning the coin toss for overtime.

Instead of receiving the ball and getting the first possession on offense, they might defer possession, allowing Andy Reid and the Chiefs to have the first crack at scoring.

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What are the new overtime rules that Andy Reid and the Chiefs kept talking about?

NFL teams approved the revised overtime rules before the 2022 season, and the guidelines for the regular season and playoffs are different.

During the regular season, a team that gets the ball first can win if it scores a touchdown on its first drive. The game results in a tie if both teams have the same score after the ten-minute extension.

Conversely, overtime rules for the NFL playoffs are like extra-innings guidelines in Major League Baseball. Both teams will have ball possession, regardless if the team who had the ball first scored a touchdown. Another overtime will occur if the score remains tied after the first extra period.

In Super Bowl 58, the 49ers got the ball first, which resulted in a Jake Moody field goal. Andy Reid and the Chiefs got their opportunity, which ended in a game-winning touchdown pass from Patrick Mahomes to Mecole Hardman.

Coincidentally, the league revised its playoff overtime rules after the 2021 Divisional Round game between the Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills. Kansas City forced overtime with 13 seconds left in regulation and advanced to the AFC Championship Game via a touchdown pass from Mahomes to Travis Kelce.