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Uni Watch

Detroit Lions Debut New Blue Helmet/Black Uniforms on MNF

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I hadn’t actually planned to cover this game, as we discussed their uniforms, and those of the Seahawks last week. But reader Tim Bullis asked if I was doing a review, so since I have some time, I thought, “Why Not?”

I watched a good chunk of this game last evening, and while I didn’t love this particular combo (blue helmet over all-black), it’s not the worst BFBS uniform we’ve ever seen.

The first thing I was looking to see was how well the blue helmets matched the blue stripes and numbers. The color match was pretty good, and up close, every detail looked sharp, with easy to read numbers.

I’m actually a fan of the new blue helmet. The brighter shade of Honolulu blue the team went with this year is, to my eye at least, an improvement. The black and silver stripes were clear and distinct, and the black lion on the side was easy to make out, even in the longer shots.

One thing that at least stood out to me was the helmet’s finish. In some shots, it almost appeared metallic, while in others the blue looked almost matte. In others, it appeared to have a satin coat.

If you watched the game, you probably noticed this too, but in the long shots (especially if the players were hunched or otherwise not upright), the blue numbers became very hard to read. It wasn’t a big problem when in direct stadium lighting, but anytime a player was in “shadow” then there were issues with legibility.

Another thing I noticed was that for players who wear white undergarments, the pants perforations really show. I believe someone else noticed this (maybe it was for Washington?) in comments about the Weekend’s games. All the new pants have this feature. Perhaps some of the players will take this into account and will wear color-matching underwear/compression gear.

At least there was no problem telling the teams apart. The BFBS below the neck and the all-white of the Seahawks (plus different color shells) was pretty much maximum contrast.

As you all know I’m not a fan of socks and pants in matching colors, but for last night’s game, it worked. And I don’t think anyone went “rogue” and wore a different color hosiery from their teammates. I did notice Kerby Joseph not wearing high socks in warmups, but he did have them for the game itself (as you’ll see in the video below). I do know Carton Davis went sans-high hosiery during the game.

I’m guessing there will be a fine coming (or maybe not).

Here are a couple videos of the game. You can see how in some instances, the Lions’ numbers become hard to read when there is no direct light on them.

Even when players aren’t in shadow, the numbers are never particularly easy to read, but they are legible.

I’m hoping the Lions will wear the blue helmet/black jersey again, but this time with blue pants (as was one of their options shown in the unveiling). I think that will be a pretty good on-field look. The blue/black/black/black just didn’t do much for me.

What did you guys think?

 
  
 
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Comments (52)

    I didn’t think they were too bad. I like how the helmet matched the numbers. Seahawks looked worse by comparison, IMO

    The numbers were tough to make out on television. Maybe it was the Ford Field lighting but they did not pop on screen like they do in these photos

    If teams would just bring back striped socks/leggings, or just wear socks that are a different color than their pants, uniforms would look so much better. The Seahawks in navy socks and the Lions in blue or striped black socks would instantly make this a better looking game. I really don’t understand the obsessions with the leotard look. It’s even worse when teams wear lighter colored pants. Light blue/teal and yellow/gold look awful as leotards, especially on the linemen

    In a vacuum it;s great.

    Panthers and Lions are too similar now, so in that regard, I hate it.

    These weren’t good, but perhaps the worst part of the Lions uniforms is that they look like they are cosplaying as the Carolina Panthers. I think I may have even preferred a black helmet with a blue lion, because at least then it would be the standard blue lion logo they’ve had for decades.
    Teams really should lean into what is distinct about their brand and identity. This does the opposite. The plain throwback works for them because it looks like the Lions, and also emphasizes how they are one of the oldest franchises in the league with the plain uniforms that dates back 90 years.
    This uniform just says, “we are copying a team from the 1990s when black was really cool.”

    Ugh. I’d understand such drastic experimentation if the Lions were searching desperately for an identity, like the Titans, but their uniform is classic and unique and should be as sacred as the Yankee pinstripes. The only good thing is the contrasting NOB.

    i loved them! however i do think the Blue pants will look better.

    I also think the blue helmet with the blue jersey and silver pants would look good, especially if they modified it to add some black accents into the blue jersey and silver pants

    Thanks Phil. Like I said in my prior comment, I wasn’t trying to pressure you into writing yet another feature, but I appreciate you doing so anyway! I agree with your assessment, and wasn’t even thinking about how well the blues matched (ahem, not so much with the Lions’ silver/white/blue set). I was just really surprised at how much darker the blue helmets looked on TV. Combination of the lighting and helmet sheen.

    Maybe it was the lighting, but I thought the blue looked much darker live than I thought it would…the all-black uniform pairing probably didn’t help.

    Would much prefer to see these elements with blue pants/black socks…

    They looked surprisingly good, although blue pants might’ve been better. Unlike others, I do like the Seahawk’ all-white unis. The overall matchup was solid.

    Horrendous! Maybe would’ve worked with white pants. Can’t stand the all one-color look, unless it’s white which sometimes works. The Lions look so good with the Blue jersey/Silver pants and helmet at home it should never change.

    Fugly as hell. I thought they looked really awful. Could barely make out who the players were.

    Black socks and shoes with bike shorts length pants remind me of some of old men in Brooklyn in the 60s who wore shorts with knee high banlon socks and dress shoes. Wasn’t a good look then and it isn’t a gold look now.

    The blue on the helmet is better than I had seen it in the Lions’ release video/photos.
    But when Troy Aikman says, “You’ll see Aiden Hutchinson — I think that’s Aiden Hutchinson — on the edge … ,” you know the numbers are too dark on black. ‘Nuff said.
    I love the Honolulu blue helmet they had last year, even bought a mini helmet, but they ditched it (and fortunately the mono gray uniforms) for tonight’s disaster.

    Thank you for that Aikman quote.
    This is what I’ve been saying about black jerseys and low-contrast numbers. If an announcer or official or statistician has to say “I think that’s Aiden Hutchinson,” then the jersey is a failure.
    Sell all you want of them in the gift shop but keep them off the field.

    It’s better then the gray garbage they had earlier, hands down. Agree though, I want to see blue pants or socks. Either or. Or, better yet, blue top, silver striped pants. But for a black alternate uniform: I’ve seen worse (e.g.: the tigers city connects)

    I liked the blue helmet better than I thought I would. The color looked really sharp. Given the result of that game, I expect we’ll keep seeing the all-black look from Detroit in the future.

    I did have some misgivings: as noted above, visibility of the numbers was not very good. I thought that the black helmet logo did not look very good, but I’m not sure how they would be able to fix that. I know it’s a lion, but it just looks like a big ink blot to me. Going so heavy on black can rob a design of it’s sense of depth, motion, and character.

    The sleeve stripes looked okay, but I don’t like this form of double stripe on the helmet. I know it’s supposed to evoke racing stripes on a fast car and/or a roadway, but I think the stripes are too close together. I’d rather there be a little bit of space in between the two stripes (more than just the outline). I still like their previous northwestern triple-stripe better.

    Overall, I think this would be a decent uniform for a college team, but it still just doesn’t look like a great Detroit Lions uniform to me. Despite the nice blue hats (and Detroit’s offensive excitement), I still thought that the black-vs-white matchup in the dark basement of Ford Field was a fairly dreary sight overall.

    One thing I noticed about the game last night was the Lions wordmarks in the end zones were outlined in black. This is definitely an upgrade since they usually have a blue wordmark on a blue end zone.

    I’ll echo most of the other comments here and say that those unis would look way better with blue pants and black socks. Hopefully they do that next time.

    The helmets were surprisingly not bad. I would’ve actually liked to see a color matching blue jersey with black trim, instead of the all black, with either black or white pants (with stripes!). The monochrome fad is a bad look, especially the “blackout” fad. I kind of like the whiteout look, but now that so many college and pro teams are doing that, it’s getting a bit tired, too.

    Is it better than the dirty dishwasher grey? Yes. Is it a good uniform? Maybe. I don’t personally like it. The Lions already have a great color scheme. This is…. not that.

    At least last year’s blue helmet had a different logo which I think made it more unique. Just re-coloring the current logo is lazy. I think the 2023 logo/helmet was a better choice than the blue/black they have in 2024.

    I think you bring up a good point about the hosiery. In the 90’s a LOT of NCAA schools went to sold pants with no stripes. But, there was contrast due to most college players NOT wearing “high socks/compression gear”. But, in the NFL, they are required to do so.

    I actually liked the helmet. I don’t think they could pair it with any of their other jerseys and it would work though. Unless they changed the striping.

    One thing I wish they would do at Ford Field is something with the endzones. Even with the black accents last night, they are just “blah”. At least paint the “Lions” in solid white for some contrast.

    Not as bad as I was expecting…… But hope this uni trend will go away.

    I would like to see the Blue helmet without the black elements that is designed to me matched with the regular home and away uniforms.

    Blue helmet with the striping from the uniform. Logo could be altered to be white with silver accents or silver with white accents.

    Blue/White/Blue would be the best look, imo

    In theory, they could make the blue helmet match the primaries by removing the striping and putting silver stripes and lion on it. The problem is they can’t wear the alternate helmet (shell) with the primaries. I wouldn’t actually mind seeing it. I could do it graphically, but I’d like to actually *see* it paired with the Honolulu blue and white jerseys.

    Do these still qualify as BFBS if Black was introduced into their color scheme 20+ years ago? I know the primaries haven’t had the black accents in a few years now, but I think black is part of their overall identity now.

    I love these uniforms. They look better than the original black jerseys from the Millen era, and the helmet is the perfect complement.

    Not sure I liked the helmet too much, the logo’s silver and black gets lost in the blue at times, like how the jerseys numerals get lost in the black. The jerseys are okay actually apart from the legibility issue. My real problem here is the plain black pants and socks look. Ugh. Terrible. They look like the Saints, but at least the Saints have a small logo at the hip. I wouldn’t even mind the Lions wearing this every so often if they had stripes of some kind and contrasting socks. As I’ve said before, their uniforms literally look like they forgot to finish designing them. I hate it.

    I agree with David.

    I liked the helmet in close up shots. However, the black on the helmets was lost consistently watching the game, just like the numbers.

    I also loathe the solid black pants / black socks/tights.

    The lions looked like they were a negative from backwhen we used film to take color pictures. These get ups look awful.

    I mean, they’re generic create-a-franchise garbage, but almost everything is now and kids will buy it, which is now the only thing that matters.

    Loved it. No real complaints about their whole set, aside from maybe pants stripes.

    What I don’t really understand is all the “Panthers ripoff” talk. For one, the Lions pre-date the Panthers by decades. The light blue and silver was Detroit’s identity first. If anything, Panthers are the copycats (no pun intended). Sure, they added black first, but it’s still plenty different enough of a design to my eyes. Besides, there’s like 6 teams that use red, white, and blue…do they all look like each other?

    Trash uni matchup. Never felt right watching what was an entertaining game.

    Blue pants and now you have a chance. At least stripe the pants. I think the helmet logo works better if only a black silhouette.

    Just can’t get past the simpleton use of black for the Lions.

    Bad case of mono for both teams. Lions need blue pants and white numbers with a blue outline, Seahawks need navy or even neon green pants. And contrasting socks for both teams, please. I did like the blue Lions helmet, even with the black details. But Carolina owns the light blue, black and silver combination, they know how to pull it off great.

    If they put blue stripes on the pants I’d live with it. The blue color is amazing, the helmets look great. Just one more pop of blue below the jersey to break up all that black.

    they need the blue socks like the panthers used to have. that pop of color would be fantastic

    Phil mentions how the blues on the Lions helmets did not match because of the finish varied from matte to satin, etc.
    I’ve noticed the past couple of weeks that Derek Carr’s helmet is a noticeably lighter shade of gold than his teammates’ helmets.
    link
    The first time I noticed I thought no it’s just the lighting but he’s been to multiple stadiums now and it’s definitely different, for whatever it’s worth.

    Funny Nike can make dark colored jersey with legible names and numbers for the NFL, like these Lions uniforms, but when they do darker MLB CC jerseys they seem to forget everything they know. Do better Nike!

    Interesting how the swoosh always ends up being the most visible element on those “creative, cutting-edge” low-contrast designs.

    The city, the team name, the iconic team logos (yes, I said it), the numbers, the NOB: all fungible, negotiable, and replaceable, but that swoosh MUST ALWAYS be highly visible.

    The problem that I have with them is that the jersey itself is fine, but the actual uniform looks terrible. It’s too much black, only the Ravens wear the all black look well. Lions just looked like the Panthers here. I liked the black jersey better paired with the silver pants back in the 2000s, I think it’ll look better with the blue pants later in the season. Monochrome are so fully, they need to go away.

    Seattle’s all white uniform was gross too, if youve ever seen the Lions all white practice uniform its even worse. Lions remind me too much of the Saonts they sold out great uniform combos of blue on silver and white on silver and blue for monochrome disasters. So unlike the Titans Miami game this was just a bad uniform match-up. The Seahawks are in need

    I thought they actually looked pretty good, especially that Helmet! But I agree with the blue pants. I hope they use those next time. The problem is the Lions keep winning with the all one color unis, they might start getting superstitious

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