Detroit Lions’ New Uniforms and What They Symbolize
Uniforms
New uniforms do more than look cool, they show pride and mark the beginning of a new era. Until this coming season, the Detroit Lions have had the same uniforms since 2017. To give a true feel as to how long ago that was, Darius Slay, a defensive back for the Philadelphia Eagles, modeled the jerseys for the Detroit Lions when they announced these new jerseys in 2017. The Detroit Lions have new jerseys for the 2024 season. They eliminated their silver color rush jerseys and instead put in the new black jerseys with blue numbers with a silver outline. The sleeves on these jerseys have blue stripes on a silver background. The home jersey looks relatively similar to the 2017 edition. They show a Honolulu blue jersey with silver stripes on the sleeves with a white background. The difference between the 2017 jerseys and these new ones is that the numbers are now no longer silver, they are now white with a silver outline. The away jersey is white with blue numbers and a silver outline on the numbers. The sleeves have blue stripes with a silver background. The classic Detroit Lions uniform with a plain silver helmet and dark blue jersey with a silver number and pants has not changed. As far as helmets, the Detroit Lions have added a blue helmet with two black stripes going down the middle of it with the Detroit Lions logo in black on each side. The other helmet is the same silver helmet except now there are two blue stripes going down the middle rather than one. These new uniforms are new but they reflect the same culture well.
A New Era
For a long time, the Detroit Lions have been known to be losers. The Detroit Lions have had a record of 101-124-2 since 2010. The Detroit Lions have also never made it to the Super Bowl. Now all of these statistics may seem hopeless. However, the Detroit Lions have been the opposite of hopeless in recent years. Last year, they were one step away from reaching the Super Bowl and eliminating that previous statistic. The last time the Detroit Lions got new uniforms was when Jim Caldwell was in his last season of coaching and Matthew Stafford was still the quarterback of the Detroit Lions. There was hope in the beginning of that era but that hope stemmed from the first playoff appearance in a while. The 2016 Detroit Lions lost in the Wild Card round against the Seattle Seahawks and were nowhere close to where the current Detroit Lions finished last season, the NFC Championship Game. These new uniforms symbolize an era where the Detroit Lions are no longer losers, they are genuinely Super Bowl contenders.
Pride
In the 2008 season, the Detroit Lions went 0-16. They made history as the first team in NFL history to go 0-16. Detroit Lions fans would show up to Ford Field with bags on their heads feeling shameful that their team could potentially make history in the worst possible way. There was absolutely no pride in the city of Detroit. These days pride in Detroit has been at an all-time high. These new uniforms reflect that. The home uniforms have “One Pride” on the inside collar, which is the phrase that all Detroit Lions fans say to show their pride for the team. For the first time in history, the Detroit Lions’ away uniforms have “Detroit” in blue at the top of the outside of their chest, showing their pride in their city, a pride that has not been felt for a long time. The away uniforms also have “313” transcribed on the inside of their collar, which nods to the area code of Detroit. This reminds the players of who they're playing for. With this pride comes a change in identity. When Dan Campbell came to coach the Detroit Lions, he brought with him a sense of toughness. He gave the Detroit Lions a blue-collar spirit that had never been felt before. The inside collar of the away uniform has a blue trim, which is literally a blue-collar, this gives tribute to the blue-collar atmosphere of the city and also the atmosphere that Dan Campbell created for the team. New uniforms do more than look cool, they show pride and mark the beginning of a new era. Detroit Lions football reflects that perfectly.
