49ers players unaware of Super Bowl OT rules, Chiefs crystal-clear on game plan: Report 

The San Francisco 49ers were reportedly unaware of the new overtime rules in Super Bowl 58.

The 49ers won the coin toss and elected to receive the ball in overtime, which surprised many. The rules had changed, and a touchdown no longer won the game, as even the commentators expected San Francisco to defend first.

With the ball first, the 49ers had to settle for a field goal, as Kansas City went down and got a touchdown to win the game.

After the game, several San Francisco 49ers players admitted they were unaware of the change in OT rules.

"I didn't even know about the new playoff overtime rule, so it was a surprise to me," Niners defensive lineman Arik Armstead said, via ESPN. "I didn't even really know what was going on in terms of that... They put it on the scoreboard, and everyone was like 'Oh, even if you score, they get a chance still.'"

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

Although San Francisco admitted they didn't know the Super Bowl overtime rules, the Kansas City Chiefs, however, say this was something they practiced in training camp.

"We've talked about it all year," safety Justin Reid said. "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... We knew what our game plan was -- had we won the coin toss, whether we want to defer or not, and what our plan was from there."

Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones, meanwhile, says the plan for Kansas City was to take the ball second, and had San Francisco scored a touchdown, they would have gone for two and the win.

Explaining NFL's overtime rules

The NFL's overtime rules changed in 2022, which allowed both teams to possess the ball unless there was a defensive touchdown.

If the team gets the ball first and scores a touchdown, the other team will get the ball and must get a touchdown to continue the game. But should the receiving team only get a field goal, a touchdown from the team that gets the ball second ends the game.

Meanwhile, if the team that gets the ball first doesn't score, a score from the other team gets the win. If the game remains tied after the second team's possession ends, then sudden-death rules will apply, meaning the next scorer wins.

How many times has a Super Bowl gone to OT?

The Super Bowl has gone to overtime twice, following Sunday's Super Bowl 58.

Before Super Bowl 58, the last big game that went to overtime was in 2017, when the New England Patriots beat the Atlanta Falcons in OT.

New England rallied from down 28-3 and scored a touchdown on the first drive of OT to end it.