Look Good, Feel Good, Play Good: The 2026 NFL Rivalries Uniforms

Overall, this new crop of Rivalries uniforms are an improvement over the previous series, and Nike clearly took some lessons from last year's failures in making the newest editions. Time will tell if the Rivalries series will create memorable and well liked alternate uniforms, or if this will end up being an annoying dilution of these NFL brands.

The NFL introduced their new line of alternate “Rivalries” uniforms in 2025 to jump onto the bandwagon of NBA “City Edition” and MLB “City Connect” uniform series’. The original rollout started with the AFC East and NFC West, and from Tortillazona to three separate minimal-effort blackout uniforms, most of them were pretty bad. The 2026 edition was an overall improvement, and includes some uniforms I think we should actually look forward to seeing in action this year. As has been the recent trend in NFL uniform rebranding, Nike got a little lost in the sauce in some places and got caught up in the details, but overall this is a vastly improved effort.

Since all you internet sickos have to rank everything, here's a tier list. Ya sickos:

The Winners:

Detroit Lions: “Defend the Den”

• Takes the best concepts from some of their current uniforms and expands on it. Emphasizes the “motor” in the Motor City.

• The Good: The Lions blue and black helmets were already one of the best alternates in the NFL, and they went and made the black elements into carbon fiber. Even the black shoulder stripes are carbon fiber. This could have been tacky, but it works well and I think it's gonna look great on Sundays. It all makes sense, it mostly keeps true to their identity, and is just really cool.

• The Bad: The only bad thing I can think of is that the shoulder stripes are a little small, and the "techy" look generally doesn't age well. Also, at first glance the whole thing looks like a Panthers uniform, which hurts in the “team identity” department.

Tennessee Titans: “Music City”

• The Tennessee Titans are a franchise that has fallen on hard times (not that they've ever had particularly good times in the NFL), and were in dire need of a win. This uniform delivered, and is up there with the best Titans uniforms of all time. It’s clean, it’s minimalist, it’s nuanced, I love it.

• The Good: The Titans stripped out the red and brought back the navy blue that carried them through their previous generation of uniforms. Light blue on dark blue is one of my favorite color combos, and this goes great with the new minimalist logo. The “neon” inspired number font looks good and natural. The thing isn’t too busy. I’m a fan.

• The Bad: The only thing that I dislike is the “Music City” script on the chest. It seems a bit amateur. “Tennessee” or “Titans” would have worked better, if you even had to put it on the jersey at all. The uniforms are also a little plain overall, but given some of these other alternate uniforms, I'd rather it be not enough than too much. These are plenty.

The Very Good:

Minnesota Vikings: “Feel the North”

• Probably the most Viking inspired Vikings uniform of all time, with some really interesting details. These things are going to sell like crazy.

• The Good: The Vikings gold is finally actually gold, and it is glorious. The runes, the Nordic knot, the fonting, it’s all great. This is how you take big swings while keeping your identity and not overdoing it.

• The Bad: I kind of wish they did more. The shoulder stripes are really small with this generation of Nike jerseys and it feels like there was a bit left on the bone. Also would've been cool to see that metallic gold added to the numbers and maybe even the horns.

Indianapolis Colts: “Anvil Strike”

• We all knew the Colts were getting a blackout/greyout uniform eventually. Thank god it’s not more denim.

• The Good: As an overall concept, it works pretty well. Gray has been part of the Colts identity as the facemask color for most of their history, but has never been a primary color. The new look stripes are pretty clean, and the overall contrast of the blue on the dark colors works well. I also think incorporating the horseshoe grommets into the design is tasteful.

• The Bad: The helmet feels a bit half-baked, but should still look good on Sundays. Also not sure we needed the horseshoe on the shoulder.

The Good Enough:

Chicago Bears: “Return of the Monsters”

• I love a good throwback uniform, and these feel like a tribute to the Red Grange era. They’re more “throwback inspired” than an actual throwback uniform, taking cues from George Halas's original Monsters of the Midway.

• The Good: As opposed to some of last year’s rivalry uniforms, these keep true to the long tradition of Chicago football, keep the original color palette and actually look passable as Bears uniforms. Anytime you can incorporate the Chicago stars I’m on board as well.

• The Bad: It’s kinda half-baked in my opinion, and would look more at home down in Champaign running out with the Fighting Illini. I know that University of Illinois football was the inspiration for the Bears original uniforms, and this might be the most obvious indicator that we’ve seen in a long time. I can't wait for the Bears to be done with this orange helmet.

Green Bay Packers: “Making History Since 1919”

• Another “throwback inspired” uniform that’s pretty clean on first glance. The inspiration is…Packers stock certificates? And paper currency. Huh.

• The Good: The desaturated versions of the Packers color scheme look really good, and helps with the throwback aesthetic. I normally don’t love this kind of number font on jerseys, but I think they work here.

• The Bad: For a throwback inspired uniform, this thing is really busy. The stripes look bad, especially the collar stripes. Putting the interlocking “GB” on the helmet as opposed to the lapel would’ve tied the whole design together a bit more, but at the very least they could have made the helmet “G” yellow.

The Weird:

Jacksonville Jaguars: “Bold City”

• The Jags have entered their “Mob Wife” era and are embracing the animal print. The Jaguars might be the only NFL team that has never really had a good uniform, but I think by embracing the weirdness of this franchise they may have tapped into something here.

• The Good: At long last the Jaguars finally have a teal helmet, and I actually think it’s pretty nice. The classic script on the jersey works pretty well, and it doesn’t look like they tried to reinvent the wheel too much until you look down. “Duuuval” is fun too.

• The Bad: Pretty sure I’ve seen these pants on The Sopranos. The Jaguar spots are silly. I’ll give them credit for trying something, but they’re getting necessarily clowned online for these. Also as a smaller gripe, nobody thinks that area-codes on uniforms are cool. It’s the one thing about this uniform that’s lazy.

The Bad:

Houston Texans: “By the H. For the H.”

• As the Texans and Titans fight over who gets to control the historic colors of the Oilers, the Texans’ biggest swing is now…this. It’s tiles.

• The Good: The old Houston Oilers colors had a color scheme worth fighting for. That color scheme is the only thing I like about this uniform. I guess I like the chrome blue facemask too.

• The Bad: The tile concept looks dumb. The Houston “H” logo is still one of the worst in sports. This would have been so much better with the white bullhead logo on the helmet. The number font is bad. The collar stripe is atrocious. There are ways to pay homage to your city and not look dumb, and this ain't it.