In American football, the coin toss is a pre-game ritual conducted approximately three minutes before kickoff to determine initial possession and field direction.
Here’s how the coin toss works in the NFL:
- Participants: The referee meets with up to six captains from each team at midfield.
- The Call: The visiting team’s captain calls “heads” or “tails” before the referee tosses the coin into the air.
- The Toss: The referee tosses the coin, ensuring it flips in the air before landing on the ground (or being caught by the referee in poor conditions).
- Winning the Toss: If the visiting team’s captain calls the toss correctly, their team wins the coin toss.
- The Winner’s Choices: The winning team then has the option to choose one of the following privileges:
– Receive the kickoff: The winning team receives the ball to start the game on offense.
– Kick off: The winning team kicks the ball to the opponent to start the game.
– Choose the goal to defend: The winning team chooses which end zone they will defend in the first quarter. This can be influenced by factors like wind or sun [mentioned in Quora].
– Defer their choice to the second half: The winning team postpones their decision until the start of the second half. This is the most common choice, allowing them to receive the kickoff to start the third quarter.
- The Loser’s Choices: The losing team (or the team whose opponent deferred) then chooses from the remaining options.
- Second Half: The team that did not get the first choice to start the game (either because they deferred or lost the toss) gets the first choice at the start of the second half.
In overtime, a coin toss is also held to determine initial possession.
How does the coin toss work in football?
The coin toss is one of the most important parts of the game, as teams will determine who will start with the football on special teams. When a team defers the coin toss, they will decide to kick, receive, or choose a direction to defend in the second half.
Do they still do the coin toss in the NFL?
I can help with that. While the Super Bowl is played at a neutral site each year, there are still “home” and “away” teams. Just like all other NFL games, the away team gets to choose between heads and tails for the opening coin toss.
Who calls the NFL coin toss?
Great question! Generally team captains do the coin toss.
What was the coin toss 2025 NFL?
Since the Chiefs are technically the visiting team in this year’s Super Bowl, they called the toss between them and the Eagles and ended up winning after calling tails.