Although it feels increasingly rare these days, several NFL franchises have stuck closely to the logos and color schemes that helped establish their identities more than 50 years ago. For most of the Super Bowl era, this has been true for the Green Bay Packers, with some slight variations to minor details like socks and sleeve striping.
While you can bank on green home jerseys and white road uniforms more often than not, the Packers have dabbled with some variations in an attempt to pay homage to the early days of the franchise. Recently, that has meant the addition of navy blue, yellow, and/or khaki brown, linking back to the Acme Packers origins over 100 years ago.
Packers team president Mark Murphy covered a lot of talking points in his recent Packers.com mailbag — including strong support of general manager Brian Gutekunst — and among the topics he addressed is the fact that Green Bay will introduce a new “historic, third uniform” during one home game this season, and that it will deviate from the blue-and-yellow throwbacks of recent and feature more green.
The statement provides some detail, yet is just vague enough to let the mind wander as to what this potential uniform might look like. Plenty of artists and Photoshoppers on the internet have taken their stab at what a Packers throwback uniform could look like. So let’s take a look at some of the best (and worst) of what’s out there.
WINNERS
Both of these have a unique quality of feeling from what the team wears now, yet feel definitively Packers-y in their design. The yellow sleeves stand out on the top one (especially if some players wear a long-sleeved yellow shirt underneath), while the green pants on the bottom picture would be very distinct from the yellow pants that Green Bay wears 99% of the time.
This design from Twitter user @CRands12 is pretty awesome. It would be hard to get much more green than these, given the green helmets, which would require a relaxing of the “one-shell” rule. These have a definite Color Rush feel to them and would be a natural fit for a home game at Lambeau Field, where the Packers normally wear the green tops. These might not sell as many in the Pro Shop, as the jersey top isn’t as differentiated, but they would look great on a TV screen near you.
This graphic, pulled from the 100 seasons of Packers uniforms infographic on the team website, is probably the leader in the clubhouse. It would be a direct homage to a specific era in team history and is predominantly green, yet is different enough in shade and style that it seems feasible to introduce it as an alternate. It could certainly be a modernized version of this, but I think this might be what Green Bay fans see rolled out this fall.
LOSERS
When Murphy said that they’d feature green in the uniform, I don’t think this is what he had in mind. There is a fine line between making something that would be new and fun (and sell a boatload online) and making it too Oregon Ducks-y with the approach. These uniforms should be playing Arizona State in a 57-51 thriller at 11:45 p.m. on a Saturday night in October.
Apparently, this is an old concept that was shot down right away. I know Packers fans say Green and Gold, but Lil Wayne is more accurate in singing about Green and Yellow, so let’s not mess with that. Plus, anything that messes with the “G” is a big no-no for me.
No. Just no. I thought I’d like the black, but I hate this.
Oh wait, this isn’t a concept. This really happened.
