The History of the Black Detroit Lions Uniform

The Detroit Lions are tougher than they ever have been.  Dan Campbell has shifted the identity of this team from a losing team to a team that refuses to lose.  A new identity means new uniforms.  One of these new uniforms is the Motor City Muscle uniform, which features a new blue helmet with a black stripe going down it and a black Lions decal on the side.  This uniform also includes all black pants and a black jersey with blue numbers and blue stripes on the shoulder pads.  This uniform is new.  However, this uniform is not as new as you might think.  The Lions have had black uniforms before; however, they revamped these uniforms during this season of success.

History

This is the second time that the Lions have revamped the black uniform since the franchise began.  The first introduction of the black uniform was in 1948.  However, more recently, the uniforms were worn every season from 2005 to 2007.  The Lions had five wins and 11 losses in 2005.  They had three wins and 13 losses in 2006.  The Lions had seven wins and nine losses in 2007.  To put that into perspective, the Lions won only 31% of their games during the seasons that they wore these jerseys.  They did not make the playoffs in any of these years.  These uniforms symbolized an era of losing.  These uniforms meant nothing to the franchise because the Lions could not win in them.  So they got rid of them.  

Dan Campbell’s Plead

Current Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell played Tight End for the Detroit Lions from 2006 to 2008.  Campbell witnessed the worst Detroit Lions team of all time in that 2008 season, where they made history going 0-16.  When Campbell took the coaching job in 2021, he was eager.  He wanted the City of Detroit to finally win.  Dan Campbell wanted to rewrite history.  One of the things he requested from the team President, Rod Wood, was for the Lions to bring back the black uniforms.  Rod Wood told Campbell that if he won the division, then the uniforms would come back.  In the season of 2023, Dan Campbell won the NFC North. Now, in 2024, the Lions have black uniforms again.

The Detroit Lions are a better team right now than they ever have been.  They have found an identity of toughness.  Their black uniform used to be associated with losing, but the Lions took those uniforms back and made them associated with winning.  The Lions will wear these uniforms again against the Bills in Week 15.  They have already worn them once this season against the Seahawks in Week 4, where they were victorious.   It is up to the Detroit Lions to continue to win in these black uniforms and rewrite something that once symbolized losing.