Carolingian Steamroller

In play they looked more or less dazzley (that's a word, right?) depending on the light. I don't think they are that different from ND's normal pants. I always thought it was funny that they designed those Packer-style Shamrock Series uniforms for when the game was scheduled to be played in Lambeau Field but they had to reschedule because of COVID and it wound up in Soldier Field in Chicago, home of the Bears.

Take a closer look at number 9 on the right. It's not dazzle but its not exactly matte either.

I feel like Under Armour has been inching towards it but yeah it does feel like the space race of modern football outfitting.

That's a minority though and the baggy undershirt, untucked baselayer has been a much more recent development. There's also some positional stuff going on. I tend to see WR's as the most likely to have the untucked look or baggy sleeves and given the current state of officiated, WR's almost want to be held.

Mind you a big chunk of aesthetics are driven by the men and women actually wearing the uniform in the field. So much of the last two decades of football design is a direct reaction to players trying to avoid having their sleeves held. Shrinking sleeves wasn't a change imposed but something that started with players tucking in the sleeve cuffs and tying them off with string. Then the shoulders got narrower as players wanted more mobility and lighter, closer fitting pads. That's one reason why we're seeing TV numbers disappear. There's now a lot less space between the jersey collar and the sleeve seam. Likewise, I'm certain on the pants end we've probably been seeing players demanding lighter and lighter fabrics. The old shiny elastic fabric looked great but it absorbed sweat really easy while also being tough to wick away into the air. Also good to remember that the average NFL player has never known anything but interchangeable uniforms in the many years they have played the game going back to Pop Warner football. Remember that Broncos swoosh design is now a quarter century old, hardly anyone in the NFL ever watched a game with the original orange crush design. The Oregon Ducks debuted their first radical redesign in 1999, a quarter of the projected starting QBs in the NFL next season were born in that year or later. It's a totally different experience than older fans (or older souls).

How dare the Saints forget about gold pants (except from 1975-1985).

Technically satin pants were available as far back as the 1930's Among the teams who wore shiny pants... the 49ers! It's all preference. I like the Niners pants these days.

Shane Falco would've been a CFL LEGEND.

Counterpoint:

That's just the Color Rush. Move along citizens. Nothing to see here.

That's an interesting development.

Shoulder loops are about width. Traditionally, loops have been the same width and proportion of Brashier stripes on pants. Now that width is a little too much for the jersey cut to really handle. You can see how the LSU template where the stripes go all the way down look a little off. Under Armour solved this problem by making the loops narrower while Nike bipasses the issue by cutting the off. I think both work and its a matter of taste. Note that UCLA with UA didn't need to think about matching pant stripe width because UCLA has no pant stripes.

Eh, I don't think their current facemask is chrome. It's more of just a silver rather than chrome. Running a quick glance through the rest of the league, I found that Cleveland and Jacksonville are the only other teams to engage in 3 uniform shifts in that time period (and one of Cleveland's changes was to return to what is 90% of their 2006-2013 design). Unless you count the series of changes going on with the 49ers sleeve stripes, which I do not. Surprising to me because there have been a lot of designs this century that I would have thought so thoroughly matched for a specific moment that the team would've moved on much quicker (Cardinals, Falcons, Titans).

Let's interrogate that for a minute. Here's the Lions home uniform in 2002. Now let's see what changes were made: 2003 - Black added as additional outlining to the jersey numbers, helmet/pants stripes, and helmet logo. Outermost stripes on the sleeves changed from silver/white to black. Facemask color becomes black. That's not a lot of change. It's one of the smallest BFBS designs we saw in that era. 2009 - Numbers become custom. Lion logo gets additional detail. Northwestern stripes on the sleeve are simplified by filing blue stripe with white. Helmet and pant stripes switch to Ohio State style. This is the biggest change and it's after 7 seasons with the black tacked on. They didn't even add more black to the uniform. 2017 - Black details on the helmet/pants become blue. Facemask becomes silver. Northwestern Stripes become mono color. Jersey numbers become grey on grey. This is a simplification and reversal of the BFBS trend. Changed after 8 seasons. 2023 will be the 7th season of this iteration. I don't think the Lions have been chasing fads, aside from the initial BFBS idea. I'd further add that over the three looks from this century, the one that most closely resembles the 90's era is the one I like the least.

Lions are one of three clubs with full time jersey tributes: Chicago Bears - GSH - George Stanley Halas, franchise founder, co-founder of the NFL Kansas City Chiefs - AFL/LH - Lamar Hunt, franchise founder, co-founder of the AFL Detroit Lions - WCF - William Clay Ford, became sole owner in 1963.

Bears shop is selling replica jerseys with the new collar/template. https://store.chicagobears.com/mens-nike-justin-fields-white-chicago-bears-vapor-fuse-limited-jersey/p-61338054098084+z-823-397179165?_ref=p-DLP:m-GRID:i-r0c0:po-0

For the record, the orange/vanilla soft serve cone never disappoints.

I could be wrong, but I feel like the 2010's throwback creamcicles were softer looking. I think it's because the mesh fabric was low sheen compared to the dazzle fabric of the 90's. While it's obvious that we would see an even softer version of the orange jersey with the current Nike fabric, however, if the Bucs were rolling with the white over orange uniform, we'll see a much different look given the big shift in pants fabric.

I will hear no slander against the black over black Panthers when this was how it was conceived:

Texans also using the new collar design but the seams run straight across. No V shape. Per their Instagram story.

90's Bills. Just wear the red helmet with the standard navy home uniform.

I'm hoping for 90's Bills as the new Texans template but I think I'm in the minority on that one.

The best news is that the anticipation is only lasting 4 days which reduces the likelihood of this board devolving into chaos like it did for the Cardinals.

It's a great look and I still want the colors on the back of the road jersey flipped.