Ranking the NFL’s 8 new alternate uniforms

The Bears weren’t the only team to release an alternate uniform this week. Seven other teams did the same, with mixed results.

The Sun-Times’ Patrick Finley and Brian Sandalow agreed on the best two and the worst three; in between, Finley preferred the Bears, and Sandalow the Packers and Titans. After a vote, here’s how they ranked the “Rivalries” uniforms of all eight teams, from the near-perfect to the embarrassing:
 

1. VIKINGS

SANDALOW: A mark of a good alternate uniform is one that could be the basis for a full redesign. That’s what the Vikings accomplished.

Using a deeper purple, gold instead of yellow and a “Nordic knot” pattern for the helmet, pants and sleeve striping, Minnesota found a way to thread the needle of something new and fresh with something that’s related to the team’s traditional identity. There is the usual and unnecessary Nike flair – on the front helmet bumper, Minnesota’s SKOL chant is translated in characters from the Rune system once used in Scandinavia – but that’s a minor demerit and won’t be visible on TV.

The Vikings’ standard home and road uniforms are already solid, but if they decided to go with these and a white version, they’d actually be upgrading. That’s how well the Vikings did here.
 

2. TEXANS

FINLEY: The NFL’s youngest team doesn’t have to bow to tradition. The result is a fun, shiny, candy-coated set that stands feels, well, joyful. Alternate uniforms are supposed to be fun, right?

The Texans’ numbers are based on the iconic “Be Someone” graffiti on a Houston bridge. The sleeve tiles, helmet stripe and player names are in a lighter blue that pay homage to the blue street tiles in the city itself.  White helmets are lazy. But the Old English “H” that the team debuted on a navy helmet two years ago pops on their white hats.

None of that storytelling matters unless the uniforms look good, though. And these do.
 

3. PACKERS

SANDALOW: The good news is that the Packers kept the same basic striping from their usual set. Elements match and come together to make a coherent uniform.

The bad news is all the storytelling they need. The vintage green and off white are meant to evoke historic Packers stock certificates. The numbers have an engraved treatment reminiscent of lettering on paper currency to honor the “financial contributions from the fans that helped sustain the franchise over the years.” Yes, really.

The best thing about traditional uniforms is how little artificial marketing copy they need. The colors and design speak for themselves thanks to decades of memories and moments. It’s jarring to read through this stuff for a team like the Packers or Bears, even if the end product is passable like Green Bay’s.
 

4. BEARS

SANDALOW: This uniform is a mishmash of ideas that doesn’t really come together. So, if the Bears were trying to mimic most of their history, they succeeded.

Nothing matches. The orange helmet is not new, albeit with a different front bumper and obligatory Chicago stars on the rear padding. For whatever reason, the Bears chose the number font from 1948 – a team that won nothing – to go on a jersey with today’s sleeve stripes but turned 90 degrees to echo the 1920s style. The original 1983

George Halas tribute patch is above the heart, which is a nice touch but doesn’t go with anything else.

The pants – orange with a blue-white-blue stripe – and 1940s-style orange-striped navy socks don’t complement each other. It’s like the Bears decided to throw as much navy and orange at a wall to see what stuck. Not much did.
 

5. TITANS

FINLEY: The Titans continue to lean into the Houston Oilers’ baby blue palette — and it remains an odd troll job for a franchise that moved to Tennessee in 1997.

I was a fan of the six-string accent they used in remodeling their standard uniforms a few months ago, and I’m thrilled that they put it on the sleeve and light blue helmet here.

The “Music City” moniker works — it’s a lot better than “Bold City,” which we’ll get to later — and the neon numbers would be home on Lower Broadway.
 

6. COLTS

FINLEY: These poor Colts. Unlike their AFC South brethren, they have a real history to respect. And unlike almost any other team in the NFL, they have only one team color — blue — with no accents to play off of.

Come design time, then, they don’t have many places to turn. Their “Indiana Nights” set unveiled in 2023 — are Indiana nights something to aspire to? — paired a heather blue jersey with a black helmet. Their “Rivalries” uniform is slate gray — they claim it echoes an anvil — with a blue helmet.

They look like the University of Kentucky. That’s not a compliment.
 

7. JAGUARS

FINLEY: The Jaguars’ “Bold City” uniforms are as bold as the city of Jacksonville itself. Which is to say, they’re not.

It’s a white jersey with black numbers that look like old-school curvy UCLA numbers — without the color or charm — and a cursive “Jaguars” written above them. The best thing about the Jaguars is their throwback teal shade. Why wear black and white?

The black pants have a chance to actually be daring — there are sublimated jaguar spots — but I’ll be curious to see if they show well on the field or if they’ll look like Peg Bundy from “Married With Children.”

The Jaguars’ “Duuuval!”cheer is silly and fun — it’s the name of the county — and something they should have leaned into for a jersey.
 

8. LIONS

SANDALOW: Are we sure these weren’t designed for the Panthers instead of the Lions? Seriously, how did Nike and the Lions not bring in fresh eyes to look at these before they were finalized?

No, these are not a dead ringer for Carolina, but there’s enough of a resemblance to make you stop. The shame of these is that the Lions have a rich history to draw from, and they play in a vibrant and important American city which should offer more than enough inspiration for designers. Instead, this is a Lions-Panthers-Jets (pre-rebrand) hybrid.

More cynically but realistically, the Rivalries program is not about connecting with communities or fans but reaching into wallets. It’s hard to see Lions fans digging out credit cards to wear jerseys and gear that would look just as appropriate in Charlotte.