Before I say anything else, I want to make it clear that the Chargers uniform shown above is not real and was not created by the Chargers. It’s a concept design created by 247 Sports creative director Ted Hyman, as part of a gallery of NFL blackout uni concepts.
But this design, or something similar to it, could be coming to an NFL field near you, at least based on a query included in a questionnaire that the Chargers sent out this morning to their season ticket holders:
Yikes. Given the Chargers’ longstanding history of aesthetic excellence, they’re about the last team I would expect to be testing the BFBS waters — especially since they already have four jerseys:
I suppose you could say that the navy alternate is already close to being BFBS, but still — I think of the Chargers as being smarter than that.
I asked Ricky Gomez — the guy who tweeted the questionnaire screen shot at me — if there’s been much chatter among the fan base about black uniforms. He replied:
[B]ringing back the classic navy unis for a throwback seems to be the favorite [among Chargers fans]. I feel every week I see at least one post on the team’s Reddit or fan club page asking for it. I can’t recall any interest for all-black.
Phew. So let’s hope this trial balloon crashes on the rocky shores of fan indifference. Still, it’s startling that the Chargers would even be thinking about something like this, no?
(Mega-thanks to Ricky Gomez for bringing this issue to my attention.)
The uniform concepts had every team except Washington
“crashes on the rocky shores of fan indifference”
Is that how LA feels about the Chargers already?
For the last couple of decades, the NFL was good with NO teams in Los Angeles. I think jumping straight in with two franchises was a bit of a stretch. They should have checked the progress of one team before allowing a second.
Yes. Exactly.
And whether recolonizing LA with one or two teams, it would help if the “new” rebranded uniforms did not absolutely suck.
Both teams whiffed on the new uniforms. Both have the best colors with the very worst uniform templates either has ever worn.
Charging headlong into the 90s!
Hopefully the BFBS idea dies as quickly as the LA-bolt logo from back when they first moved back to Los Angeles.
Just another example that the Chargers have lost the “Fight for LA.” link
I can deal with the BFBS better than I can the GFGS. But, I thought it would have died out by now also. I graduated in ’91. Our school colors were red, black and white. Back then, we would wear solid black or solid red for rivalry games. The “mono” thing appears here to stay as well as the BFBS trend.
I just can’t understand how this is still a thing. Blackout in any sport has got to be the most contrived, played out and uninspired idea out there. It never looks good.
With so many NCAA universities having done random black uniforms recently, it seems that a large number of current NFL players came up through systems where BFBS was basically normalized. And the same thing applies to the fans, who’ve been watching this for years now. At this point, give every team a black uniform and let them get it out of their system.
NO. The Chargers have an almost flawless set right now. Please don’t go messing it up.
I loved the Chargers uni reboot. That shade of baby blue paired with the yellow pants is great! Don’t understand the alternate uniforms. But, I understand Nike/Chargers wanting to make a little extra coin.
This is one black set I don’t mind. The thing that kills these is the blocky blue shoulder stripe. Replace that with just the same stripe as the helmet (maybe a bigger “Charger-blue” outline). And these would be really nice.
And then drop the other two alts. Just use the first two in the post and they’re BY FAR the best in the league.
Most (if not all) of those BFBS jerseys were horrible.
I would rather see the Chargers do a throwback with dark royal blue helmets that used from 1974 to the mid 80s (I believe 1987)
One last thing…. Keep the uni numbers on the helmet in the yellow.
And learn how to win a playoff game when you’re up 27 – 0.
If they’re sincere in their intentions to give the fans what they want, I don’t really see how anyone could have a problem with this. If the fans don’t want it, then it won’t happen. And if the fans do want it, I don’t really feel like it’s my place as a non-Charger fan to say they shouldn’t do it.
I wish the Commanders would’ve asked us fans before any of the current uniform set.
Christ, what is this continuing obsession with BFBS uniforms? Enough!
Calling it “black lightning” goes a little way in justifying these, though DC comics MIGHT take issue with it. They could probably convince me with a lakers style “LA nights/LA lights” gimmick if they did all black with yellow and electric blue in an outline/neon style.
Should they do this? I’m somewhere between indifferent and no. I think they’d come as close to a really nice BFBS set as anyone could, but so what, I guess.
I think a navy blue helmet with a yellow lightning outline to match their navy uniform would essentially accomplish the same “dark and edgy is cool” look while keeping with the team’s visual history, and streamlining the “all-navy” look.
But hey, like I said, the chargers uni history and current set tells me that if they went for a black gimmick uniform, they’d probably look decent.
please no bfbs chargers looks like made in 80s
Players want this. They love all black uniforms, makes them look tough. In every sports players love all black uniforms nowadays, so it seems. Athletes also never seem to smile when posing in a black uniform. It is the revered minimalistic practice gear look combined with an urge, a need to look tough to the outside world. I would not be surprised if younger Chargers fans buy into this. I love their current set and say: do not do it. But I am irrelevant to the Chargers or their fans.
Chargers should take advantage of the new helmet policy and do a Seau-era Navy throwback. This could replace the current navy alternate, so they would still have 4 jerseys.
Hard pass. Doesn’t look right in black. I would prefer they change their dark blue unis to better reflect their current set.
Except… this is like the best looking BFBS concept I’ve seen.
I mean, it’s not great, but hardly the worst. Not all sartorial travesties are created equal.
Even though BFBS is really tired at this point, I think the concept at the top actually looks better than the mono-royal and mono-navy sets they currently have…probably because both look really mismatched with the white helmet to me.
That said, BFBS would be a major downgrade for the Chargers and totally unnecessary.
I don’t see the need for it. Their set is one of the best uniforms in the NFL, it would not enhance things. And no team needs 5 uniforms for a 17-game schedule.
In this history of bad ideas, this is one of the worst.
If there’s a lot of chatter amongst the fans about bringing back the Seau era navy throwbacks then I guess people really never can be pleased. They brought back the baby blues because fans wanted them back so bad and now that they have a legit baby blue look again they want the navy back. I don’t even thing they need to have a Seau era throwback when they have essentially an updated version of that with their navy alternate. Just use the second shell rule to give that set a navy helmet with the same logo treatment as the shoulders of the navy jersey. My question is why do they have a royal blue alternate?
Chargers in black? No thank you. TB Lightning reintroducing black? Yes please.
Hmmm, I just can’t imagine why a middle-aged white American man would have such an irrational hatred of the color black. Hmmm.
No.
Not because I don’t like all-black uniforms. On the contrary they are awesome!
I’m against it because I’m a fan of a team where black is a big part of the uniform (Steelers) and I’m really tired of teams with little to no black in the color scheme wearing all black uniforms.
Worst of all the Chargers already have AMAZING uniforms and numerous combo options. No need to also have an all black look. Leave that to Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and others.