NFL Uniforms: Which designs lead to Super Bowl success?

Do NFL uniforms and Super Bowl success have any correlation over history?

Ever wonder if a certain look gives your favorite NFL team a better chance at glory? Well, wonder no more because I’ve analyzed the uniform of every Super Bowl winner in the past 30 years. From the helmets to the colors to the pants, this guide covers all the looks of the greatest teams to play football in the last three decades.

But before you dive into it, I’ll spoil the research for you. There’s no distinct correlation between what a team wears and how it performs on the field, but there were some interesting patterns and trends for the 16 champions I studied.

I could have examined uniforms before 1990, but NFL uniforms look much different now than they did in the 1960s. In order to include the most recent Super Bowl, I counted the 1989 Super Bowl (played in 1990) as the first game for this exercise, which makes that 31 games in total.

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Also, when I refer to years, I’m referencing the seasons the Super Bowls were played for, not the actual year it was played in. (i.e. Super Bowl LIV was played in 2020 to crown the champion of the 2019 season.) Now, let’s break it all down.

NFL Uniforms: White vs. Colored

Every team has a white uniform, though when they wear it is up to them. Most teams don white for away games but a select few (like the Cowboys) have opted to wear them at home over the years.

When it comes to the Super Bowl, the ‘home’ team has chosen their white or colored uniforms since 1979. In even-numbered games, the AFC team is home, while the NFC team is home in odd games. And if history has anything to say about it, those teams might want to choose white.

Since 1990, teams in white have won 21-of-31 times. White uniforms have especially ruled recently, when they lost just one Super Bowl between 2004 and 2016 (Green Bay in 2010). Of course, the Chiefs just won in red. Might it mark a changing of the tide?

NFL Uniforms: Featured Colors

The holy grail of Super Bowl uniforms comes down to what colors each team wore while holding up the Lombardi Trophy. When I charted this, I only counted the primary colors of each team.

For example, the Steelers didn’t get a tally for blue despite having a small blue diamond on their helmets. Similarly, I didn’t tally more than three colors per team, so a team like the Ravens didn’t get a point for red, but they did get a point per win for gold.

A quick note: The Steelers and Redskins classify their colors as “gold”. But here I listed them as yellow so they wouldn’t be confused with the 49ers’ and Saints’ gold. Also, blue and navy were originally grouped together as blue, but I wanted the colors to be as specific as possible.

Navy: 12, Red: 11, Silver: 9, Blue: 8, Yellow: 7, Black: 6, Gold: 4, Orange: 3, Aqua: 2, Green: 2, Purple: 2, Burgundy: 1, Neon: 1, Pewter: 1

Without a doubt, blue has become a dominant color in Super Bowls. 12 of the 31 winners had navy in their uniforms, while eight winners had pure blue. In fact, blue has been a primary color for the champion in all but five Super Bowls (2002, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2019).

It seems like the past 30 years of football have been ruled by navy, red and silver. Congrats New England, your colors literally translate to success. Maybe Tennessee can continue that trend for the next 30 years.

NFL Uniforms: Helmet Colors

A team’s helmet is the first representation of their identity. It could be argued that no type of clothing or protective gear is as indicative of a franchise as the football helmet is. It means everything to a team and their brand, so I charted every winner’s true, dominant helmet color of the past 30 years.

Silver: 9, Navy: 5, Black: 4, Blue: 3, Gold: 2, Yellow: 2, Cyan-based: 1, Burgundy: 1, Red: 1, Pewter: 1, White: 1

Silver helmets reigned supreme, as 29 percent of the winners rocked silver helmets. In other words, the Cowboys and Patriots have had some good decades of football. If you want to group navy and blue together, then 26 percent of winning helmets were a shade of blue.

As for colors with no wins in the last 30 years, orange and purple didn’t get any rings. I was most surprised by the lack of titles won by white-helmet teams. It’s such a common color in uniforms, though only five teams currently have white helmets.

NFL Uniforms: Dark vs. Light Helmets

This should be pretty self-explanatory, although I did classify the Chiefs’ red domes as light. And get this: Since 1990, it’s been an even split. That’s right, half of the winners have worn dark helmets, while the other half have worn light ones.

And it’s not a new phenomenon, either. The same 50/50 split holds true since 2000. The past 10 games have gone 6-4, in favor of light helmets. I was hoping there would be more of a trend here, so I looked at the overall matchups, too.

It turns out all but nine of the last 30 Super Bowls featured a dark helmet versus light helmet matchup. And yes, I’m prepared for that stat to impress only diehard football nerds like myself.

Full Uniform

Of course, a uniform isn’t complete without pants, though there wasn’t much variety for championship trousers. Therefore, I exclusively looked at how a team’s pants matched with their jersey.

In the last 30 years, only four teams won a Super Bowl with a matching uniform and each time they dressed only in white. On top of that, only five Super Bowls featured a matching uniform set, and all of them were white from head to toe.

All-white uniforms would be perfect in the last 30 years if it weren’t for the Panthers’ loss in 2003. It seems like if a team wants a better shot at victory, they should consider going all-white.

Impact on the Future

Like I said earlier, there’s no impact on a team’s Super Bowl chances based on their uniforms. However, let’s say the next three decades follow the trends of the last three decades. I’m sure we’d all become sick of the Patriots by then. But which teams would be least suited for success (no pun intended)?

Browns: Orange and brown haven’t had a good track record, though that’s largely just two teams to blame.
Bengals: At least they have black to go with the orange. There has some been some form of black — whether it’s a small detail or a prominent color — in 13 of the last 30 Super Bowls.
Dolphins: Cyan-based colors have had trouble reaching the Super Bowl. Also, the white helmets don’t help.
Vikings: Maybe they’d do better if they made their helmets yellow. That’s what the stats say.

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Who knew that NFL uniforms had such a say in how a franchise’s success would measure up in the long run?

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