As we approach Super Bowl LIX (aka Super Bowl 59), it’s time for a ranking of every SB uniform pairing ever played, going from worst to first. Of course, these rankings are largely subjective, and I’m sure you won’t agree with the order of my selections. After literally hours of finding and grading all 58 games played to date, I’ve come to the conclusion that ranking games ain’t easy — sure, there are some stinkers and some absolute all time glorious-looking games, but the middle-of-the-pack uni matchups can be a bit tricky.
I began on Monday with the first 12 (ranked from #58 through #47), and I explained the setup in some detail. If you missed that, you may with to check it out to see how I rank the games.
Today we’ll continue with the second 12 (ranked from #46 though #35), so these matchups are better than the bottom 12, but still just a hair short of really good matchups.
Remember, it’s all subjective, so feel free to disagree in the comments below.
Let’s get started…
#46: SB 46
Despite my being a Giants fan, I’m not particularly a fan of their road look where the helmet is blue, but the jerseys are completely devoid of that color. If your nickname is “Big Blue,” you better have more than just a single blue stripe on everything below the waist. This is the lowest of the “rematch” looks we’ll see going forward.
#45: SB 42
If this looks familiar, it’s because in both SB 46 and SB 42, the Patriots and Giants wore basically the identical uniforms. And in both of those games, the Giants defeated the heavily favored New England team. In the greatest upset since Namath over the Colts, the Patriots entered the game 18-0. They left with 18 wins and one Giant loss.
#44: SB 34
Oh what could have been. If only the Titans could have made a Super Bowl as the Oilers, especially against the (LA) Rams, this might have been Top 15. Instead, we got the Titans with their funky fonts, shoulder yokes and weirdly striped helmets. And it was the last time the St. Louis Rams would ever wear these uniforms.
#43: SB 32
I firmly believe that if Denver hadn’t immediately won the first of their two straight Super Bowls wearing their then-new Nike parentheses uniforms, they’d have been retired long before now. It actually was a pretty good matchup, contrast and colorwise, but the modern vs. classic uni battle — begun the year before with the Pats and Pack — would usher in a new and decidedly less-pleasing era of uniform design for the next two decades.
#42: SB 14
Here’s one of those examples (like the one to follow) where the sum of the parts is much better than the total. Both the Steelers and Rams have outstanding unis in this SB, but with both teams in gold pants, it was almost too much gold.
#41: SB 45
Much like SB 14 above, this one also suffered from a gold overload. I think GB has the best home uni in football (and Pittsburgh’s roads are really nice too), but they just didn’t play well with each other.
#40: SB 52
Following the “too much gold,” we have the second set of uni-rematches, this time featuring the Eagles and Patriots. I don’t hate the Eagles midnight green unis as much as others, but when matched up against the Pats Flying Elvis side panels, it’s not a super look.
#39: SB 39
Despite the thirteen year gap between these uni-rematches, both uniforms are essentially unchanged. The biggest difference was the Pats won SB 39, while the Eagles had their revenge in SB 52.
#38: SB 55
This one could have been the worst looking Super Bowl of all time, but fortunately, the Bucs jettisoned their gadawful “alarm clock” unis just before this season. And while their new/current look seeks to replicate their 1997-2013 duds, unfortunately Nike can’t quite get the shade of pewter correct. The pants are more an anthracite than pewter, giving the appearance of almost solid black pants and socks. KC’s unis are fine, but it takes two to tango.
#37: SB 38
It’s perhaps a testament to the staying power of their original look, but the Panthers uniforms haven’t changed much since the team was born in 1995, and their silver/white/white look is perhaps their best. This one would have been higher if Carolina had worn silver/black/silver, as both teams would not have been in same-color hats and britches. Unfortunately, they did not.
#36: SB 56
Here’s another SB that could have looked much worse — fortunately for us, the Rams and Bengals (both fresh off recent redesigns) each wore their Sunday best for this game. For a pair of teams with “modern” uniforms, this one was surprisingly attractive.
#35: SB 53
If you’re sensing a theme with LA here, you’re right: this is another Super Bowl where it could have been sooooo much worse. If you’ll recall, the Rams were in the midst of transitioning from their terrible St. Looey uniforms, and fortunately they received special papal dispensation to wear their throwbacks for the season. (The Uni Gods permitted them to wear their throwbacks as their primary that season.) The result was a pretty decent looking game.
And there you have it. The second “worst” 12 Super Bowl uni matchups. Feel free to disagree in the comments below!
Curious if you had any reasoning for placing one of the NE-NYG matchups ahead of the other
It was pretty close. But SB 42 was played *outdoors* (though I believe the roof was closed) and on real grass, whereas SB 46 was inside Lucas Oil stadium and on turf. Even so, they were still pretty equal, but I gave a nod to the real grass in 42.
Do people actually hate the Eagles midnight green look? I think, when paired with black socks, it is a modern classic. The uniform itself isn’t bad as much as the option to go back to kelly green and silver is just so much better. I feel like the Eagles are judged more on what else they could be instead of the merits of the actual uniform itself. And this is someone who is 100% behind switching back to kelly green.
The only real negative of the midnight green uniform is the finish of the helmet making it appear black under certain lighting.
I think you’re spot on with this analysis, Greg. I have always liked (very much) the Eagles midnight green design — it’s definitely a modern classic that has more than stood the test of time since the mid-1990s. But I also think if they could simply make the current template in kelly (possibly with silver/gray pants), it would be a fantastic update. There’s nothing wrong with midnight green, per se, but it’s quite dark, and like you said, the helmet can often appear black under different lighting conditions.
I was surprised the Eagles never introduced midnight green socks (either in addition to or to replace the black socks). But they’d be almost as dark as the black socks, so maybe that was never an option.
But at least from my perspective — people don’t hate the midnight green look as much as they would prefer the shade of green to be lighter and closer to kelly.
I like the Eagles’ current look other than the mono-black. But Phil’s right, I miss the Kelly green with the silver pants. Admittedly, I’m old.
I actually do hate it. The midnight green is too dark for my liking. YMMV and all that, but I don’t care for it at all. I greatly prefer the kelly green, the silver/grey pants and helmet wings, and the flying eagle sleeve patch look from the mid-90s to what they wear now.
I’ll respectfully disagree with your opinion on Super Bowl 34. I was watching highlights yesterday and couldn’t help but appreciate the Titans’ uniforms despite not liking them much when they were around. The Yellow/Navy/Light Blue pair really well to me, especially with the Titans’ white helmets and pants. Great work on this project!
I came to say this too. I love that Titans look and think this is one of the best looking Super Bowls.
This has been enjoyable so far. Hard to argue with much to this point.
However, regarding Super Bowl 53, if by terrible St. Looey uniforms you mean the deeper blue with gold, I thought that was a GREAT look, one of the few ’00s/’10s rebrands that worked for me. I really liked those colors together. That said, the Rams’ throwbacks are even better, especially compared to what they wear today.
I get the reasoning, but I’m not in agreement with you that the Rams/Steelers and Packers/Steelers aren’t good because of “gold overload”. But I also love when USC has played Michigan, where both have gold (yellow maze) pants.
I love the Super Bowl 14 uni matchup.
First one that I strongly disagree with.
Giants – Pats is also underrated I think.
Confession – before I started looking at these rankings, I never realized how many Super Bowls the Rams have been to.
Correction on 38 – If New England wore road unis, they would have had navy pants, not silver.
Not that it would have helped.
While a very small change, I think that SB LVI was a MUCH better looking game than SB LIII. Maybe because the lighting and field color in LA was much better than in Atlanta, but I think that Bengals-Rams looked better than Patriots-Rams Part 2. Just my opinion though.
Rams Bengals is too high. The modern rams uniforms are an abomination, from the number font to the horns to the poorly executed shoulders