We’re down to the final two teams for the biggest championship in American sport: The Super Bowl.
If you’ve been following along the past few NFL playoff weekends, you know I’ve been picking the winners “by better uniform,” against the spread. After a successful first weekend, where I went 4-2 in the Wild Card games, I followed that up by going 1-3 in the Divisional Round. I entered the Conference Championships at .500 (5-5). During those games, I went 1-1 (correctly picking San Francisco and Kansas City), but I didn’t cover the Niners/Lions final score. So, I’ll either finish 6-7, or 7-6 this year (after having gone 8-5 the past two seasons). Oh well.
In most years, picking the better uni for the Supe is usually pretty easy, but not this time around. I really like both KC and SF’s uniforms — though my preference for this game would be SF in gold/red/gold and KC in red/white/white. But KC is the designated home team, and like in Super Bowl 54, when these same two teams met, KC will wear red. We know how that worked out.
So…who to choose…who to choose…
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2024
Super Bowl: San Francisco at Kansas City
Time: 6:30 pm ET
TV: CBS
SPREAD: 49ers -1.5
This is actually going to be a very tough decision for me. My rooting interest is for the 49ers for sure, but I don’t pick these games based on which team I prefer. It comes down to the unis. And all things being equal, the unis for this game are almost equal too — I think the 49ers have a great looking uni — their home uniform is easily Top 10, maybe even Top 5 in the league. I’m not as big a fan of their roads, especially since some players eschew red socks for white tights. But it’s still a fine kit.
KC also has one of the better home uniforms in the league. I don’t think it’s as good as SF’s home uni, but SF isn’t in their home outfits. SF’s got the helmets and pants matching perfectly (always a plus), and their helmets have a gray facemask, which is also a plus for me. But is it “better” than KC’s home uni? It’s literally going to be a coin flip here. Heads for KC, Tails for SF…
(Flips coin)
It came up heads.
Yes, after a full set of playoffs where picking the winner by better uni was always a pretty easy call, the biggest game of the year comes down to a coin flip.
THE PICK AGAINST THE SPREAD: KC +1.5
I’ll still be pulling hard for the Niners, but when picking by better uni … it’s KC, by the absolute smallest of margins.
It’s a tough pick!
Neck-down it’s even-Steven.
So I focus on the headgear.
Both teams use black outlines on the bucket, which is not found anywhere else on either set. KC does not use yellow on the helmet, while SF’s team colors are all visually accounted for(though the gold it a touch too glossy). But there’s the gray Niners facemask – which looks great but is an obvious outlier. So it comes down to the logo. I Have no problem with the imagery used by KC…YVVM…but it’s well known (?) that Hunt based The Chiefs over-lapped letters on the 49ers design…if it was good enough to crib, then San Fran is the better dressed team. Go Niners!
Thanks Chris. If we were going by each team’s home uni, I’d take the Niners. Away unis — SF is better than KC in red/white/red, but I’d render it a push if KC wears the much more aesthetically pleasing red/white/white. But since it’s KC home vs. SF road…it was literally a coin flip. They’re that close (IMO).
Like I said, I’m rooting bigly for SF…but by “better” uni it was even. Hence the coin flip.
I give the edge to the Chiefs because they have stripes on their socks! If the Niners had the 3 stripes on their socks like back in the day they would have the best uni IMO!
Niners by a mile.
A gold face mask (ala UCLA) would render them flawless, but I digress.
Other than the Browns, an NFL teams default secondary log is their helmet. Therefore, every team color should be represented on said helmet. It’s not difficult, Chiefs. Ditch the indigenous imagery as well.
So Martay … do you want KC with a red mask or a gold (athletic gold) mask? Because to me white is definitely a team color (along with gold and red), so their white mask fits your definition (“every team color should be represented on said helmet”) — you want to bring in gold from the uni on the mask, or the logo? Kinda like I did with KC in my 2/3/2/3 (helmet on right):
link
I would take either. But… yellow in the logo would be best. I think the white face mask looks pretty good.
For me it really comes down to the socks. If the 49ers would enforce all players to wear red they’d have the better uni. Instead we get the whacky white tights. Go Chiefs.
No screen shot, but the KC kicker had two different shoes; Nike on the right and Adidas on the left. The soccer guy in me always looks.
I gotta say I’m very disappointed in the sheer number of 49ers going with white socks/compression pants. Most of the offense (all?) and all but the LB’s are in white leggings. Couple Special Teamers have red socks, but by and large most of the team is in high whites.
Agreed. They looked dismal. Wish it would fall out of favor.
Well it’s time to see if the uniforms of the 49ers are actually better than the Chiefs
Coin flip, closest of margins… you had it all correct from the start.