Most Overdesigned NFL Unis

[Captain Apollo]

I think you can add the Texans to this.

[Old School Fool]

I think you can add the Texans to this.

Are you friggin' serious!?

[FiddySicks]

1. Bills

2. Bengals

3. Lions

4. Vikings

5. Jets (It just seems the whole package could use a bit of a tone down. Not to say its necessarily bad though)

[SmoothieX]

How much more could you tone down the Jets?

They've got simple, old school unis.

[Saturn]

The vikings whites are ok...the purples are a nightmare.

This:

or

This?

If you chose the bottom answer, you sir are a moron.

Agreed. The vikings home has WAY too much white. Their all white set is fine but everything else is a disaster. I don't really like those old ones either but its still miles better in my book.

[leopard88]

How much more could you tone down the Jets?

They've got simple, old school unis.

. . . which occasionally feature horrendous green pants.

[Audiodrama]

I think the poster-boys for this largely-horrendous era of eclectic uniforms have to be the Bengals and Bills. If I have to explain it, you just don't understand.

I will, however, stick up for a few teams who have introduced new looks in the past ten years or so, namely the Texans and Patriots, whom now share two of the best looks in the entire league.

[John in KY]

. . .

The Eagles did that for years before switching to midnight green. The difference is, for the Eagles, the number outline was the only place anywhere on the uniform that black appeared - not on the helmet, the socks, the pants. Just to outline the numbers.

. . .

VitaminD - while I agree with you on all accounts of you post, you are forgetting that during that era the Eagles did have narrow black stripes on their pants. The pattern ran green/thin black/white/thin black/green - you can just barely see it in this photo (from Tank's site):

Back in those pre-HD days it was harder to see except in still photos, and for the Eagles it replaced something I always hated on the 70s set - spaces between the green and white pants stripes.

Actually if the Lions had just stopped with adding the black outline to the numbers, pants stripes and helmet stripes it would have been okay (not great, but useful). The outline on the lion is maybe passable. The black mess with the jersey stripes are what kills them.

[RickV]

1. Bills

2. Broncos

3. Vikings

4. Cards

5. Rams

6. Bengals

7. 49'ers

[Rambulance]

I think you can add the Texans to this.

Are you friggin' serious!?

I'd have to agree with him. I much preferred the white helmet that they debuted the logo on before the uniforms were official. I think that paired with the red home jersey would have been more unique than the navy blue primaries.(besides the obvious white helmet in the AFC South argument)

[powersurge]

whats wrong with the cardinals uniform?

They are too new for some of the old foggies at this site.

The Cardinals look light years better than those old things they used to wear. Really, what are some of you people looking at? The Cardnal home uniform might be the best uniform in the NFL (even with the stupid grey facemask). Atlanta doesn't look that bad either. The black shoes/black helmet combo really make that uniform.

The Chiefs, Redskins, Cowboys and Panthers all could use an update, and are all too busy, with their 1970's stripes on jerseys/pants or helmets.

The Chiefs are way, way out of style. So are the Deadskins. The only half-way decent Cowboy uniform is their blue set, that they never wear. Their white jerseys, with mismatched blues and green pants are terrible. The Panthers uniforms look cheap and need to tidy up their look. They would look so much better wearing the light blue jerseys with the WHITE pants and blue socks. And, wear the white jersey's with the gray pants, with black socks. Who cares if they look a little bit like the Raiders with that look. The Raiders are irrelevent in the NFL now.

But, I guess since those 4 are now "traditional", they are OK with some of you.

I would bet that if the Cardinal unis came out BEFORE the Falcon unis we might have a different opinion of them. That being said, they are fairly unique I guess and I actually like the design element on the pants. It kind of mimics the Cardinal head logo.

I think when it comes to the Chiefs...they are in need of a tweak. One recommendation I would make for them is to darken up their colors a bit and change the number font on their unis to something a bit more modern. I can see them taking a New England Patriots jersey template and working in their colors successfully.

Why should the Chiefs darken ANYTHING? I think it's refreshing that they've stuck with the color scheme.

It is refreshing indeed.

Let me elaborate further on my comments.

After seeing what the 'Niners did with their redo I'm convinced that the Chiefs can successfully live through a redo. The 49ers darkened and changed the hue of their red and gold. SUCCESSFULLY took the little bit of black that exists around their logo and distibuted it nicely throughout the entire uniform. (something that the Chiefs can do as well) They matched the pants with the uniform and helmet seemlessly while simultaneously keeping some of the elements that existed in the previous set (i.e. stripes on sleeves and pants/helmet stripes. I may be part of the minority but I feel that the 'Niners are a prime example of a nice modernization of a quintessential bland 80's uniform set.

It is because of the 'Niners that I believe the Chiefs can achieve a similar result while avoiding the perils of the modern uniform that virtually swallowed the Bills, Cardinals, and Lions whole.

[TruColor]

I can't believe people put the Patriots in the GOOD category...when they violate one of the biggest uniform aspects of all of these teams:

Mismatched side-panels with pant stripes.

They look horrible IMO, and were one of the first teams to start this side-panel nightmare.

I certainly was someone who definitely thought that the Lions needed a darker color in their color scheme (their White uniforms in particular always looked especially drab to me...although I loved the "glitter" numbers they wore on the dark unis in the '80s), but the way they forced the Black into the striping is just awful. Especially the teeny-tiny Black striping on the helmet. Just terrible design. Amatuerish.

The Bills certainly can be lumped into the "awful" category. Another amatuerish work.

[Gothamite]

An excellent point, Pantone.

There are a couple relatively minor problems with the Patriots' uniforms - I'd add the extraneous piping, and the numbers always look goofy and unbalanced to me - that cumulatively become a big problem.

Fix those, and they'd be great. As is, they are deeply flawed.

[vicfurth]

The vikings whites are ok...the purples are a nightmare.

This:

or

This?

If you chose the bottom answer, you sir are a moron.

Count me in as a moron too, lol. The throwback Vikings are "meh" at best. Grey facemasks and white sleeve striping ruin it for me. Plus, would you want to bring back a look that the team lost four super bowls in?

IMO, with the new jersey sleeveless jersey cuts, this piping craze won't be going away anytime soon. There just isn't space to put striping on the sleeves anymore. Piping is way less annoying than the following pic:

Because of lack of space, the Cowboys have three--THREE--different striping patterns (two-striped, one-striped, no-striped), depending on position. That, to me, is unacceptable. That being said, the Vikings actually look pretty good. Their white jerseys are among the crispest in the league:

I actually surprised nobody's mentioned that they've also added a bit of black to their unis (only on the helmet logo, though).

If I was forced to make an over-designed list:

1) Buffalo

2) Cincinnati

3) Seattle (look like they just got rained on, even when in Arizona)

4) New Orleans (too many golds)

5) Pittsburgh ("modern" numbers, oddly colored nameplates)

6) Detroit (if they left the collars solid colored, the black would work)

[mantleisthebest7]

I honestly cannot stand the Chargers uniforms. All my life theyve had the blue helmet, and they try to go traditional and totally wreck the retros. I wouldve chosen what they wore last year over what they wear now. Then you have the Bills who have like 67 shades of blue, topped of with red and grey, then to top it off you have the Cowboys who can't match colors worth thier underwear. Whew, im done now.

[powersurge]

I'm not sure if I agree with everything that you guys say about the Patriots look...but I can't say that I disagree either.

Yes, the piping is a bit odd, but it works for enough me to let it slide for some reason. You can easily fix the piping on the white jerseys by adding a small stripe of red to border the navy. It would work fine.

I disagree about the numbers. I think they work fine for me. I used to think that they made the blue too dark by going with the navy instead of royal blue, but in the end they made the right choice.

[HeyDingis]

What separates the Bills from the rest of the league is the fact that nothing really seems to go together. They took a helmet that already had too many stripes and added more, the stripes on the jerseys don't even remotely match the stripes on the pants, and the shoulder yoke was never even necessary. It's not just overdesigned, it's completely disjointed. Most of the other consensus bad uniforms - Bengals, Cardinals, Vikings - have at least had a real designer's hand to them. The stripes are usually continued from the side of the jersey to the pants, and most of the elements have a sort of flow to them. They're not for me, but I see their uniforms as a matter of personal taste. With the Bills, I just can't fathom anyone liking them. They're too clunky to be futuristic, and they're nowhere near simple enough to be classics.

[hawk36]

I honestly cannot stand the Chargers uniforms. All my life theyve had the blue helmet, and they try to go traditional and totally wreck the retros. I wouldve chosen what they wore last year over what they wear now. Then you have the Bills who have like 67 shades of blue, topped of with red and grey, then to top it off you have the Cowboys who can't match colors worth thier underwear. Whew, im done now.

Agree wholeheartedly on the Bolts. The throwbacks of the past couple of seasons were near perfection. This new looks is simply a mess of unrefined ideas.

On the Vikings, Patriots, Cardinals, etc. I think one easy change that would do wonders would be to simply remove the side stripe from the jerseys. Yes a lot more tweaking would need to be done but that one thing would go a long way in improving the uniforms.

[John in KY]

I can't believe people put the Patriots in the GOOD category...when they violate one of the biggest uniform aspects of all of these teams:

Mismatched side-panels with pant stripes.

They look horrible IMO, and were one of the first teams to start this side-panel nightmare.

Really? I hate side panels, but I always thought that the Patriots worked. On the home uniform there is the red piping that frames the navy side panel (like all NFL jerseys the side panel is spandex). This matches the wide blue stripe framed by red piping on the silver pants.

Since the navy pants have both red and either white or silver piping I guess that's what you are referring to as mismatched since the jersey just has the same navy side panel with red piping as the navy jersey. Same comments apply to the dirty white - er, "silver" - alt.