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UniDiction 2011: Week 9 – Eagles vs. Bears, Broncos Wore Their Ugly Orange Alternates, and We’re Just Not Going to Talk About The Panthers’ Light Blues
By Dan Fuller
Published:
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Well, they may have blasted apart my uniform-generated spread (25-15), but a win (real life: 34-7) is a win. I'm 3-4, the Eagles are 3-4. Not too shabby after a dicey start for both of us.
We had a surprisingly lively debate in the comments section for a
review of the Marlins new logo on Tuesday, and the uniforms will be officially and fully unveiled on Friday 11/11, so check back next weekend for a full review. But, we're hear to talk about the NFL today, so let's start this football thing by looking at last week's NFL uniform action with the help of the always-great Gridiron Uniform Database.
For Halloween (?), the Broncos wore their Orange alternates. I'm not a big fan, but they're going with Orange as their primary color jersey color next year, so get used to it. Of course, the kicker is that they're rumored to be changing uniforms completely next year with the arrival of the Nike contract, so it's anyone's guess what they'll look like next year. Unfortunately (due to lack of being the home team and general non-funness in the NFL), none of the Bengals, Dolphins, nor Bears wore their Orange alternates. So close, yet so far.
The Texans wore their rare Red alternate over White pants combo (the Red jerseys are usually seen as part of a "Red Out" with Red pants), which is a great look, even better than their unfairly-overlooked-on-best-of-modern-uniform-lists Blue over White combo.
Sporting their Blue over Yellow throwbacks, the Rams showed that their "heritage" look is as interesting as their current uniform, though had they chosen to wear their standard uniforms, there's a chance we could've seen Gold pants vs. Gold pants, as the Saints showed up in White over Gold (their best White jersey combo).
Rounding out the throwbacks/alternates were the Panthers in their Blue alternates for the second week in a row. The less that's said about those 90s disasters, the better.
And, finally, in terms of trivia, the Redskins wore their new-for-2010 White jersey over Yellow pants combo against the Bills, creating a bit of an "old school" type match-up.
Writing these articles has shown me that there's much less diversity in the NFL schedule than I expected, with inexplicable* repeat opponents such as the 49ers, Cardinals, Falcons, and Bears (*note: I am fully aware that NFL scheduling is actually rather scientific, thank you very much, but how often do I really want to write-up the Cardinals uniforms?). Because the Eagles played the Bears last year (though in Chicago), I'll borrow from the 2010 write-up as needed.
As a quick primer on the Bears uniforms, their standard color jersey combination is Navy over White. For their White jersey, they usually pair it with Navy pants. An Orange alternate appears every now and then (always with White pants). In recent history, they've worn White over White (the double set of stripes on each leg is against the uniform rules, so he has probably fined) as well as Navy over Navy and a Throwback in 2010 in place of the Orange alternates.
The Bears have one of the classic "This is the NFL"-type uniforms, so let's find out how they'll do against the Eagles. The UniDiction is after the jump.
The UniDiction
Either 2, 3, 6, or 7 points awarded for each category (safety, field goal, touchdown, touchdown+point after, of course)
Helmet
Eagles: 7 — Same as always. Definitely one of the best helmet designs in the league. I'm a sucker for "functional" helmet designs, and the wings fit the bill.
Bears: 6 — In terms of design details, the wishbone "C" logo has just enough going for it to not look like a plain letter cop-out. But, they really need something to break up the two halves of the helmet. Maybe a White or Orange stripe (or a combination of those). The helmet is just slightly a bit more "old" than "classic."
Jersey
Eagles: 6 — When fans think of the "post-Cunningham" Eagles, they're picturing the Midnight Green jerseys. A unique, bold color, with detailed strokes on the numbers, and nice use of logos on the sleeves and collar. I'll remove a point due to the use of drop shadows.
Bears: 6 — This is a classic NFL template. No yokes (Titans), framing features (Jaguars, Cardinals), drop-shadows (Eagles). Orange stroke around Navy fill on the typography makes the letters and numbers visually interesting, and the Blue-Orange-Blue stripes on the shoulders keeps them from looking like an unfinished field of White (Colts and Giants, I'm looking at you). Nothing I'd change on these except that Navy Blue looks Black-ish (like the Eagles "Midnight Green") in poor lighting, such as a night game. Like this week.
Pants + Socks
Eagles: 6 — The White pants provide nice contrast with the solid green of the jersey, and instead of plain white, the thick Black ad Green stripes (with the pencil thin grey stripe) on the side of the pants gives them a slightly modern touch. Black over White socks also break up the White from the pants. I wouldn't mind if they swapped the Black socks for Green, though.
Bears: 3 — Again, a classic design with an Orange-White-Orange sandwich stripe and no frills. Here's what isn't so clear about the uniform's details. Why are the stripes spaced on the jersey and socks, but flush on the pants? Also, the Navy and Orange jerseys and Navy socks (which are paired with White pants) use triple stripes of the same color with strokes, while the White jerseys and socks use spaced Navy-Orange-Navy. Consistency people!
Intangibles
Eagles: 6 — Obviously the best combo from the current uniform set. The Green needs to be a few shades lighter (if they wouldn't do a straight return to Kelly Green) for it to really work in the poor lighting of a night game, though.
Bears: 6 — Well, I normally complain when the Eagles wear Green pants due to how dark they are, so the Bears in Navy pants are definitely not any better here, especially for a night game, even if they have bold, obvious stripes on the side (unlike the Eagles with Graphite and Black). But, Bears fans, these are still nice uniforms. For "classic" uniforms, I prefer the Packers in Green over Yellow, but the Bears in any combo (except Navy over Navy) give them a run for the money. If they show up in White over White (they probably won't), bump this to a full 7 for outside-the-box thinking.
Final Score
Eagles 25
Bears 21