How often do NFL teams go for it on fourth down?
NFL offenses went for it on 23.3% of fourth downs in the 2025 regular season, nearly twice as often as from 1999 to 2017, when it was 11% to 14% every season. The rest were punts and field goal tries. Fake punts and fake field goals count as going for it; plays wiped out by a penalty are not counted. The chart starts in 1999, the first season in nflverse's data.
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Source and date
- License
- CC BY 4.0 (nflverse)
- Data as of
- Published
The data
| Season | Fourth downs where the offense went for it (%) |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 11.9 |
| 2000 | 12 |
| 2001 | 12.3 |
| 2002 | 12.9 |
| 2003 | 12.8 |
| 2004 | 12 |
| 2005 | 12 |
| 2006 | 12.1 |
| 2007 | 14.1 |
| 2008 | 13.2 |
| 2009 | 14.4 |
| 2010 | 12.5 |
| 2011 | 11.1 |
| 2012 | 11.6 |
| 2013 | 11.9 |
| 2014 | 12 |
| 2015 | 12.4 |
| 2016 | 12.8 |
| 2017 | 12.4 |
| 2018 | 14.8 |
| 2019 | 16.2 |
| 2020 | 19.1 |
| 2021 | 20.9 |
| 2022 | 18.8 |
| 2023 | 19.6 |
| 2024 | 20 |
| 2025 | 23.3 |