Major League Football - Reimagining the 1970 AFL-NFL Merger (San Francisco 49ers update - series complete)

[BayBaseballFan]

20 hours ago, NicDB said:

I'll echo white numbers on the orange panel for the Broncos, but I like the orange horse sooo much better with the white outline on the stripe.  Now the colors are balanced more in proportion with the rest of the uniform.

I think you got it right the first time when it comes to the Dolphins, but I'm not gonna complain about seeing more concepts.  But to me, the Dolphins look best when orange is kept to a minimum.

@NicDBGlad you liked the tweaks to the Denver helmet. It does look a lot better and actually better aligns with what the team actually wore from the 70's through the early 90's. 

 

And yeah, I also agree on limiting the orange. I'm kind of stuck because I do agree with the critique that there was too much white in the home jersey to differentiate it from the road jersey. I really didn't want to do aqua pants with the aqua jerseys since I hate that monochromatic look. So orange was really the only option. But I'm not fully sold on it. One other option would be go with a grayish dolphin hue, but that also doesn't seem to work for a team from Miami. Might eventually be back to the drawing board.

[BayBaseballFan]

Chicago Bears - minor updates for the Monsters of the Midway

Like a lot of teams in the NFL North, the Bears have had one of those timeless looks over the years. Their uniforms have become a classic due to their consistency. It was tough to come up with any significant changes, so I went back through the team's uniform history. The team's primary helmet logo is reverted back to white (which was correct for the era) with a thin orange outline. The home uniforms stay pretty accurate to what was actually worn with just the jersey numbers being made orange and the TV numbers staying white. The alternating jersey and TV numbers are carried over to the road uniforms. The sleeve stripes are maintained from the actual jersey, while the shoulder stripes are taken from the team's 1936 set. It may seem a bit archaic, but I like to think it's one of those features that became synonymous with the team and stuck around for decades. Finally, the road uniforms are paired with blue pants as the actual mono-white look from the 60's felt too bland. Improvements for the better or did I go too far with change for change's sake?

 

Next up - the Cleveland Browns maintain some of the features from their origins.

 

 

References / Inspiration

 

 

[neo_prankster]

When you do get to the Browns, I wanna see if there's a way to incorporate the elf.

[MilSox]

I feel like the only tweak necessary for the Bears is your orange stroke around the white C. That's what I wish they wore in real life. 

[BayBaseballFan]

Cleveland Browns - the shadow of the team's origins are on display

Pardon the very clunky pun in the title, but as you can see - the biggest change for the Browns is the addition of the drop shadow the jersey numbers. I had always associated them with the Jim Brown-era plain white block numbers, so the look from their inaugural season was a bit of a shock. I inverted the colors on the home numbers and made the direction of the shadow consistent across the home and away jerseys. Other than that and the addition of the brown pants to the road set, the uniforms remain pretty true to the 60's. Count me as one of the casual fans that was very excited last year when the Browns returned to the traditional sleeve stripes. They're simple, yet uniquely different fromthe pseudo-Northwestern style the Packers, Steelers and Bills have made popular. The elf returns as a more prominent secondary logo. As much as I love the elf, I couldn't find a way that would have been era-appropriate to add it to the jersey. And the helmet had to stay pristine. Lastly, I really like the rarely used end zone script, so that was applied across the full wordmark. Minor tweaks overall, but the Browns have never looked better than this classic template.

 

Next up - the Green Bay Packers get a minimal road revision.

 

References / Inspiration

[_DietDrPepper_]

I’m a fan of all of it except the brown pants, Cleveland has always looked better in white or orange pants.

[Indigo]

You just took the disaster that was the Browns’ “modern” Nike rebrand and their regular, iconic uniforms and combined them. Well done.

[BayBaseballFan]

@_DietDrPepper_Yeah, I kind of backed myself into a corner again like I did with the Dolphins. Personally, I've never liked the Browns in orange pants, especially on the road. And mono-white felt too washed out. But I think between the two, I'd probably go white pants on the road.

 

@LA Fakers+ LA SnippersHa, thanks. Wasn't my intention, but I'll take it. I really liked that '46 jersey and it wasn't until I was done I realized the drop shadow was very reminiscent of that horrible recent Nike era.

[BayBaseballFan]

@_DietDrPepper_ Alright, alright. I'll admit - the white pants on the road set does look better. I still don't like the orange pants, but white is a lot more improved over the brown. 

 

[BayBaseballFan]

Green Bay Packers - The Pack undergoes some minor road revisions

If there's any team that signified excellence in the 60's, it's the Packers. Vince Lombardi, three NFL titles and wins in the first two Super Bowls are pretty solid credentials. The success in that era has cemented their home jerseys as iconic. And they are. So to even consider altering them felt wrong. However, as I've had to do with some of the other classic teams, I felt a little less guilty about trying some tweaks on the road jersey. The main inspiration was the more simplified striping on the Paul Hornung road jersey below. The contrasting sleeves added a little more yellow. It might be a bit much, but..."in for a pound, in for a penny." The sock stripes are updated to match the road sleeves. And the Wisconsin outline on the football player is returned as a secondary logo. So are the Packers a little too sunny now? Let me know and thanks for looking. 

 

Next up - the Buffalo Bills finish off the AFL North with a fix for the better (?) on the team's helmet logo.

 

References / Inspiration

[Indigo]

I know it was hard to change an iconic look, but the yellow sleeves just don’t seem right. Maybe because you did it for the Steelers already, or maybe just GB in that much yellow is jarring. Could you try green sleeves to match the socks? 

[DCarp1231]

1 hour ago, LA Fakers+ LA Snippers said:

I know it was hard to change an iconic look, but the yellow sleeves just don’t seem right. Maybe because you did it for the Steelers already, or maybe just GB in that much yellow is jarring. Could you try green sleeves to match the socks? 

At one point, for an extended period of time, the Packers and Steelers essentially had identical jerseys. The only difference being one was green and the other black

 

vs currently where the Packers opt for a shorter version while the Steelers try to maintain the classic stripe

 

[MilSox]

21 hours ago, BayBaseballFan said:

Green Bay Packers - The Pack undergoes some minor road revisions

If there's any team that signified excellence in the 60's, it's the Packers. Vince Lombardi, three NFL titles and wins in the first two Super Bowls are pretty solid credentials. The success in that era has cemented their home jerseys as iconic. And they are. So to even consider altering them felt wrong. However, as I've had to do with some of the other classic teams, I felt a little less guilty about trying some tweaks on the road jersey. The main inspiration was the more simplified striping on the Paul Hornung road jersey below. The contrasting sleeves added a little more yellow. It might be a bit much, but..."in for a pound, in for a penny." The sock stripes are updated to match the road sleeves. And the Wisconsin outline on the football player is returned as a secondary logo. So are the Packers a little too sunny now? Let me know and thanks for looking. 

 

Next up - the Buffalo Bills finish off the AFL North with a fix for the better (?) on the team's helmet logo.

 

References / Inspiration

I think that is a little too much yellow.  It worked for the Steelers because they have the black helmet to balance things out.  If anything, I'd keep the usual white jerseys, but add green pants for the road.  I always wanted the Packers to have alternate green pants for dome games where the abundance of yellow is most apparent.

[BayBaseballFan]

@LA Fakers+ LA SnippersSo I gave the green sleeves a try and they actually looked pretty good. I actually them to what I originally had.

 

@NicDBAnd I gave the green pants a shot with the original road jersey I had. An improvement from the all-yellow look, but I think I still like the green sleeves a little better.

[BayBaseballFan]

23 hours ago, DNAsports said:

At one point, for an extended period of time, the Packers and Steelers essentially had identical jerseys. The only difference being one was green and the other black

 

vs currently where the Packers opt for a shorter version while the Steelers try to maintain the classic stripe

 

@DNAsportsA prime example of just how much jersey sleeves have shrunk over last 20-25 years for all players except quarterbacks. Interesting how the Steelers haven't made any tweaks, while the Packers have proactively reduced the stripe to just one white bar. The Steelers' lower white stripe is practically nonexistent on their current sleeves.

[MilSox]

The Packers in contrasting sleeves still looks off to me.  Granted, a big part of that is probably because I consider the unis they wore in SB I & II to be the basis of what they should always look like (within reason, given the cuts of todays unis). 

I'm sure you've probably moved on to another team by now, but might I suggest trying to incorporate the classic Lambeau era look (what the latest throwbacks were based on) for this project? 

[BayBaseballFan]

Buffalo Bills - The buffalo is finally free to roam

Much like the Browns and Chargers, the Bills' current uniforms are a return to one of their iconic looks from the past. There's not a lot that needs or deserves to be tweaked. The one thing that always has sort of irked me with the Bills is the charging buffalo logo. The angled, running animal itself is great. The blue streak depicting motion always bothered me. So here's my take on that logo with the bar removed. The other minor tweak is mixing and matching jersey stripes from the Bills' early years. Probably unnecessary to deviate from the actual stripe design used currently, but I felt like I needed to make a change besides the helmet. Better? Worse? A mixed bag? You tell me.

 

Next up - a bonus set at the halfway mark to represent the third team in every matchup.

 

 

References / Inspiration

[BayBaseballFan]

3 hours ago, NicDB said:

The Packers in contrasting sleeves still looks off to me.  Granted, a big part of that is probably because I consider the unis they wore in SB I & II to be the basis of what they should always look like (within reason, given the cuts of todays unis). 

I'm sure you've probably moved on to another team by now, but might I suggest trying to incorporate the classic Lambeau era look (what the latest throwbacks were based on) for this project? 

@NicDBI may wind up going back and revisiting some of these, like the Dolphins. I'll put the Packers under consideration as well.

[_DietDrPepper_]

That Bills look is awfully similar to the Patriots isn’t it? I guess with the Pats switching to blue it was inevitable but at least the shoulder stripes could still be distinctive but you’ve gone and given the Bills them too. I’d drop the shoulder stripes and swap to a red helmet. Sure it’s a bit early but it makes sense if the Pats are going to be wearing what they’re wearing.

[BayBaseballFan]

@_DietDrPepper_ So I definitely realized the similarity to the Patriots set. When I did the 32 teams originally, the Pats were one of the first and the Bills were one of the last. That I think gave me some cognitive distance and the fact they're now in different divisions gave some artificial separation. That being said, some changes were in order. I first reworked the jersey stripes to duplicate what they actually wore. Not too bad. It was carried over to the socks. 

 

 

I also tried out the red helmets. Personally I was never a huge fan of the red shells. I think the Bills look better in white. But I also get there's a soft spot among the fans given the success the team had during that era. Red lids would have definitely made the Bills stand out from the Pats.