After going 5-4 at home as well as 4-4 on the road, the Detroit Lions finished the 2022 regular season with a 9-8 record and couldn’t make it to the playoffs, however, they are now heading to the new season with a renewed ray of hope for a potentially good season.
The Lions, known for their classic silver and blue color scheme, have revealed their alternate helmets adorned in a new blue color scheme for the upcoming campaign, in a celebration of the franchise’s 90th season.
Lions reveal alternate helmets ahead of the season
Following the NFL’s decision of allowing teams to have an alternate helmet beginning last season, the Lions team unveiled its new alternative blue helmets to pay homage to their heritage with a classic logo from the 1960s on Wednesday.
The Lions unveiled their new alternate helmets 🦁
Thoughts?
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— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 21, 2023
The helmet has a gray matte facemask and although the team had a blue helmet in the 1950s, the team said that the new shade of blue featured has never been worn in the NFL before.
Detroit players will wear this new helmet with their all-gray alternate uniforms in two games of the upcoming season: the Week 8 Monday Night Football against the Las Vegas Raiders, and the Week 18 match against the Minnesota Vikings.
Why do Lions wear blue?
WJR owner G.A. Richards bought the Portsmouth Spartans in 1934 and transferred the team to Detroit. The newly renamed Lions team later decided that their uniform will be a blue jersey, silver pants, blue socks, and a silver helmet but what was the reason behind selecting blue as their jersey color?
Well. We got the answer! A 1950 Lion media guide shed light on the question saying, “The blue, a distinctive shade was especially developed for G.A. Richards.” Richard was deciding on a combination of red and white, orange and black, and blue and silver for the jersey and based on the suggestion of Glenn Presnell, the then lone surviving member of the first Lion’s team and the league’s oldest alumnus, he chose the combination of blue and silver in 1999.
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The blue shade used by the Detroit team is officially known as “Honolulu blue” and it was inspired by the color of the waves off the coast of Hawaii.
“When we met with Mr. Richards, my wife and I also helped select the Lions’ colors. He had asked us to look at the different jerseys in the next room. There were all different colors, orange and black, red and white, you name it. We saw that Honolulu blue and silver and said we liked it best. So Richards chose that”, Presnell said.
Under the guidance of Head coach Dan Campbell keeping quarterback Jared Goff in charge, the Lions are expected to showcase a phenomenal display of athleticism in the NFL season opener on September 7 against Patrick Mahomes’ defending champion team Kansas City Chiefs.
What’s your prediction? Who will win the match? You can share your opinions with us in the comments.
