In a year when we’ve been given more than our fair share of bad uniform news, it’s always nice when we get some uni treats.
That is the case this weekend, when the Minnesota Vikings will play host to the Houston Texans. The team announced they’ll be breaking out their very popular throwbacks, which were introduced last season.
If you’re not familiar with the throwbacks, Paul had a most excellent rundown when they were released. All the details and finer points are covered.
At the time, it appeared the team would only wear the throwbacks once, that being the 2023 season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
In that game — which would end in a loss for the Vikings — the team sported a Bud Grant memorial patch on their left chests.
Despite the loss, the throwbacks proved extremely popular among players and fans, and in an unusual (but not unprecedented) move, in mid-November the team announced they would wear the throwbacks a second time.
They broke them out against the Bears for a Monday Night Football game on November 27th.
Unfortunately, the Vikings lost a second time in the throwbacks, losing to the Bears 12-10 on a last second field goal.
So the team is still winless in their throwbacks, but they’re hoping to turn things around against the Texans this Sunday.
If you clicked on the article I posted above where Paul reviewed the throwbacks, he mentioned something very prescient.
Update: There are apparently some rumors about the Vikes adding a white alternate helmet later this season, because the white-over-white combo that they wore for a home game late last season was a hit with fans. If so, that would explain why they kept the matte helmet for the throwback, thereby retaining the option for a different helmet shell.
But there’s a catch: Alternate helmets can supposedly be worn only with alternate uniforms, and white/white isn’t an alternate combo for the Vikings — they wear it on the road all the time, and it’s just their standard white jersey and white pants. But the NFL often seems to bend these sorts of rules, so we’ll see.
Well, the Vikings did not introduce a new white helmet (or uniform) last season, but the did this year, when in June the team unveiled their new Winter Warrior uniform and helmet. That explains why they simply modified their existing matte purple helmet last year — they were preparing to add the white bucket this season. Perhaps next season, when all NFL teams are allowed to have three different helmet shells, they will add a period correct helmet to wear with the throwbacks.
With the throwbacks scheduled for this weekend, and the Winter Warrior uniform to be worn December 16th, that will account for two (of the three) permitted alternate uni/helmet games. Will the Vikings add a second throwback game this season (as they did last year)? We’ll just have to wait and see.
But either way — it was nice to get some good uni news this week!
What do you guys think of the Vikings throwbacks? Should they introduce a third shell next season to make the throwbacks even more accurate?
Love to have your thoughts!
I wish the helmets would always match the jersey…make these the primary!
I prefer the deep purple – but I agree…get back in these!
It’s the same principle as the Giants — historically, the helmet was dark navy (or dark purple in the case of the Vikings), which did not match the jersey. When the Giants went to their current uniforms, they added some metal flake into the helmet paint to make it match the jersey color better. This is the right idea, and props to the Vikings for using their current helmets, which match the jerseys.
I prefer the mis-match…then and now.
Gimme the Rams and Chargers in navy helmets over royal jerseys some day soon. The Eagles made their BuddyBall/Braman throwbacks less appealing by matching the jersey color to the helmet.
Hell, the 90’s helmets would look good with these, then this Vikes fam says make these primary with a matching road set.
These are pretty sporty!
In other news. The Cardinals are going solid black. Bet the Lions go solid white because of it.
I think opinion will split between the Joe Kapp uniforms (2-color numbers) and the Chuck Foreman set (1-color numbers). Put me down for the former.
Vikings fan here who always thinks less is more when it comes to yellow on the MN uni set. So mark me down for 1-color (i.e. white only) numbers and we’ll cancel each other out.
With a gloss helmet it would be close to prefect.
Three purple posts in 2 days? Cats and dogs must be living together!
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with their current set but these are just a touch better. Of course I’d prefer white facemasks but whatever.
phil, you got a lot of feedback on therice/hernandez jersey post yesterday, you were notably quiet in the replies. would appreciate if you could address it at some point, whenever/however suits you. i’d personally like to know if that’s a direction this site is taking or was a one off type of thing but i may not speak for everyone of course
Thanks for asking, Jem. I am not immune to criticism, and while the post may have been ill-advised, I said my piece and clearly, most of the commenters were displeased at what I wrote. I don’t expect I’ll be doing any more of those types of articles. As one of the first comments noted, “slow news day?” — it was, and I’ve been dealing with some personal family issues for the past several weeks (and expect to for the forseeable future), and it was a hastily composed and probably poorly thought out article. Rather than yanking it (as I probably should have) or deleting any of the negative comments, I let people have their say. Lesson learned.
I appreciate you leaving it up. You said something you wanted to say, and put it out there for the world to see. When one does that enough times, they are bound to put something out there that isn’t well received, and that’s ok.
Personally I thought the picture warranted publishing, whether the accompanying text was enjoyed or not. So I had a thought. I know that often small items of interest like this get tacked onto the end of the big lede of the day, but what if you added a side bar or simply formatted a post style that was meant to be nothing but a picture or link of interest? A sort of “I’m just going to leave this here” situation. I thought the picture was absolutely interesting and I totally understand the need to provide context, and I fully understand why it warrants posting on uni-watch. Anyway, I guess I’m suggesting like a picture of the day sort of thing but presented separately from the bottom of the main post.
Well stated Phil.
Thank you, Phil. This is exactly one of the reasons I enjoy the site under your stewardship, authenticity is appreciated.
These are pretty good. I’m okay with their normal set, so when I see these I don’t feel the same sense of excitement and longing that I feel when I see some of the other throwbacks/fauxbacks. I like those grey cages.
As a non-Vikings fan, I like the matte helmets that match the jerseys, but I suspect that if I was a Vikings fan I’d want to see the quirky mismatch from the days of yore.
I like these a lot, but I don’t feel the need to call for them as the primaries. My reasoning is that it’s not the collegiate font and basic stripes that make it good. It’s the size and boldness of the numbers along with the yellow border, as well as the yellow and white on the sleeves actually touching rather than being separated. If the current unis made the number font a bit larger and slightly bolder, then added the yellow stroke around it, and did the same for the TV numbers, and then moved the yellow sleeve stripe up to touch the bottom of the sleeve “boat” and added one on top of the boat as well, the color balance would be much brighter and bolder and, to me, more pleasing to the eye. However, barring those changes, I will say that, even as one who doesn’t necessarily prefer old style to newfangled, I prefer these for that reason. They are bolder and brighter.
I like this but the current Vikings uniforms are my favorite by far, classy but with just enough flair they don’t come from a cookie cutter stripe template. The numbers need a little work but i don’t hate them as some do.
Make this uniform set permanent with MATCHING gloss helmet.
I really hate that they chose to model it on a guy who wore black socks and kind of ruined the look.
Nothing really wrong with their regular purples but these just look “right” to me. Now stay off my lawn!