Nobody wants to play for the tie. Sometimes, it’s the right move.
When the San Francisco 49ers got the ball back in overtime with 1:50 left at their own 20-yard line, a decision had to be made. The Seattle Seahawks had no timeouts left. The 49ers could have taken a tie, which would have been beneficial given their lead in the NFC West race. An 8-0-1 49ers team would have still led the Seahawks by two games in the loss column.
The odds of going all the way down to set up a field-goal attempt — which would have been attempted by a rookie fill-in kicker who missed badly earlier in overtime — were not good for the 49ers.