As you’re all likely well aware, this past Thanksgiving the Detroit Lions eschewed wearing their classic throwback uniforms, opting instead for their Monolulu blue uniforms (in which the team is undefeated this season).
At the time, I speculated the decision was due in no small part to the uni-superstitious nature of the team. They’ve worn just three out of multiple different uni combos at home this year. The Monolulu Blue, the blue jersey/silver-gray pants (in which the team lost its only game of the season) and the new BFBS alternates. But once they lost wearing the blue/silver-gray combo, they seem to have retired the silver-gray pants, and stuck with the Monolulu blues at home. They’re scheduled to again wear the BFBS uniforms next weekend, and it’s almost a guarantee the Lions will wear their Monolulu blues one last time, for their final home game in Week 18.
But was the decision really made based on “success” in the Monolulu blues? Could there have been a different, unannounced reason why the Lions decided to ditch the throwbacks on Turkey Day?
Longtime reader Derek M. Hodgins contacted me with his own theory. I’ll let him take it from here…
Hey, saw your comment/question about the Lions and why they didn’t wear their throwbacks on Thanksgiving. I think the issue is that they assumed that the new blue would work for the throwbacks and it doesn’t.
You can see on their uniform page that they never show the throwback next to the new ones. At the uniform unveiling event last year, the throwback never appeared on-stage, it was a video showing highlights of the previous year’s Thanksgiving game wearing the FUSE throwback.
From their page:
“The refreshed blue is the only change the team made to the classic uniform as they will still feature classic numbers in silver with no outline.”
So my suspicion is that they figured it was fine, signed off on the change, got the jerseys, and then realized the mistake and ditched them. Which would explain why it seemed like a last-minute change. I think the change of blue is just too bright for the silver twill.
The 97 at bottom is a real one from last year (not customized), on left is an inside-out 2024 retail jersey. The on-field jerseys are a brighter, more royal blue than the retail ones and the silver looks silly on even this one.
Is Derek on to something? Could the reason they team didn’t wear the throwbacks because of visibility/contrast issues?
I think most of us would agree that the throwbacks, with the silver numbers and no outlines, were never the easiest to read, but certainly they were acceptable legibility-wise. Is it possible the new jersey template, combined with the new shade of blue, have made the throwbacks unsuitable, from a contrast perspective?
Here you go! pic.twitter.com/fyHqT84YJZ
— DCityGrit (@Sanchlinz) April 19, 2024
It’s certainly more than within the realm of possibility.
What do you think?
My theory is that it was superstitious, but it wasn’t because they’d been dominant in Monolulu blue—it’s because they hadn’t won a Thanksgiving game in 7 tries and wanted to switch up the mojo.
Yes, this is what I thought, too. Although Derek’s theory might be right.
Always thought the throwbacks looked like they made the numbers out of duct tape
completely agree. The lion’s throwback looks like a high school practice jersey. I get that people are nostalic, but it wasn’t designed for TV legibility, it wasn’t designed for modern tailoring, it wasn’t designed for the terrible lighting in ford field… it doesn’t look good (there’s my hot take)
The mono whites look like a cheap practice high school uniform and they look terrible and that didn’t stop them from wearing those. I think it’s a superstitious thing
That is spot-on!
Even if that were true, and I am not saying it is, that still doesn’t explain going blue over blue instead of blue over silver.
I think the Hand of Crash Davis is still the explanation that fulfills Occam’s Razor on this one.
“I think the Hand of Crash Davis is still the explanation that fulfills Occam’s Razor on this one.”
I’ve been thinking of bringing back the “Reader Quote of the Day” at the end of my morning articles (something I had done maybe 10 years ago), and have been tempted to reinstate it. This quote may just be the one to kickstart that!
Honored and flattered.
While I’m not particularly a huge fan of the Lions costumes – I appreciate the simplicity. Just stop going mono blue. The rest of the sets are ok.
Send a note to The Titans
Exactly, I was excited about their new uniforms and then they took that joy away by avoiding the better uniform combos.
While it’s possible, I doubt that legibility was the reason to scrap them. Case in point, the numbers on their new black jerseys are incredibly hard to read from a distance. And it could be that the players like the black jerseys enough that the legibility issues didn’t matter, but it seems unlikely for a team to wear one set of uniforms that are hard to read while scrapping another for the same reason.
ALSO, Derek, how did you get your hands on the Hutch Thanksgiving jersey?!!!! That’s an amazing jersey for even another player to have on their wall!
I don’t buy it as I think it was for superstitious reasons. We haven’t seen the Lions not go monk since week 2 their only loss of the season. They’re scared to mix and match their uniforms right now or wear silver pants and that’s the main reason why they wore mono blue or blueberries as the fambase calls them.
If it was not for superstitious reasons then they need to explain why the silver pants haven’t been worn in 3 months.
I really don’t think that was the reason.
It does beg the question why they needed to update the throwbacks to the new blue to begin with. The helmets are silver with gray facemasks and the pants are gray with no stripes. They should have just matched the blue of the jersey to the correct blue that was worn back in the day.
Plenty of teams have altered the hue of their throwbacks to be period appropriate.
Actually the Lions throwback blue was quite a bit darker than their standard blue in the Reebok era. When they did the 2017 update they made the color closer to the throwback blue so they used the same shade for the standard and the throwback. So they certainly could have kept the darker blue for the throwback jersey. Since they didn’t show it live at the introduction of the current uniforms we don’t know what shade the new throwbacks actually are.
Not a fan of the fact that the NFL has considerably brighter overall.
Not a fan of mono looks. No idea if it’s superstition or the throwback blue not pairing well with the silver. Too bad, because I love the Barry-era black shoe throwbacks.
Anyway, hard to argue with the results. “Forward down the field……. Go Lions!”
The only reason is because of superstition. That is a fact. There are no legibility issues at all. All superstitious.
In the words of the legendary Stevie Wonder: very superstitious. The writing’s on the wall. The writing in this case being: The Lions uniforms will not change from Monolulu Blue at all.
Until they start losing, which I’m starting to hope for.
I’m just glad they skipped the old-fashioned look… God bless that classic uniform, it served them well, but it’s boring and a little ugly… the new set is a much better visual (even with the mono-blue).
Only criteria is that it be within the realm of possibility?
Ok. Shall we list them all?