Ranking all eight NFL ‘Rivalries’ uniforms from best to worst: Vikings near the top, Lions close to bottom

The NFL’s newest batch of “Rivalries” uniforms have officially been released, and now it’s time to rank them from best to worst. 

There were a total of eight uniforms released on Tuesday with each team in the NFC North and AFC South getting a new look, as part of the “NFL x Nike Rivalries” program, which kicked off last year with teams in the AFC East and NFC West each getting a new uniform. 

Here’s what the release schedule looks like going forward:

• 2027: AFC West and NFC East
• 2028: AFC North and NFC South

But we don’t need to worry about what’s coming down the road, because we need to focus on right now, and right now, we’re going to rank this year’s crop of uniforms, so let’s get to it. 

1. Houston Texans

I love everything about these uniforms and I also love the fact that the Texans are the pettiest team in the league. The Texans claim that these uniforms were designed in honor of the city of Houston, but it really kind of seems like they’re actually honoring the Houston Oilers. 

The Texans aren’t allowed to wear an Oilers throwback uniform — because the Titans own the rights to the all things Oilers — so it feels like their ultimate plan here was to design something that had an Oilers feel to it. 

The whole Oilers thing has actually been a sore subject between the two teams. Back in April 2024, Texans co-owner Hannah McNair, the wife of Texans owner Cal McNair, made it clear that the rights to the Oilers jerseys should have stayed with the Texans when the Oilers/Titans moved from Houston to Tennessee in 1997. 

“Houston takes a lot of pride in [the uniforms], and you know, Tennessee doesn’t care as much,” McNair stated. “It’s not as meaningful to their fans.”

The Oilers had one of the most iconic uniforms in NFL history and you can’t really go wrong by copying the look, which is why I’m a big fan of everything the Texans did. 

2. Minnesota Vikings

Although I don’t have the Vikings at the top of my list, I almost feel bad for that, because I feel like Minnesota spent more time than any other team on the fine details in their uniform. 

I mean, this entire uniform is basically an ode to the Nordic Gods. For one, the white color on the jersey isn’t actually white, it’s Ivory, and the Vikings picked that color to match their giant Gjallarhorn. 

According to the team, the uniform also features the word SKOL, but it’s “transcribed in Rune characters. The Rune system, called Younger Futhark, features a 16-character runic alphabet used in Scandinavia during The Viking Age.” If you have any Rune on your uniform, that’s an automatic win in my book. 

And the then there’s the stripe on the sleeve, which is actually a Nordic knot. I mean, the Vikings thought of everything.

3. Tennessee Titans

Let me start by saying that I actually like the Titans jersey and helmet. If I had only been ranking those two things, I might have put them at No. 1, but I’m ranking the entire look.

The Titans are wearing Navy blue pants with their uniform and that’s the part I don’t love. Back in 2015, the NFL did a Color Rush thing where each team picked a color and wore that from head to toe. With the pants and jersey being the same color, this feels like a Color Rush jersey. It’s too much blue. That being stated, I’m still a huge fan of what the Titans did here, especially the helmet. 

The Vikings also went with a monocrome look, but I have them one spot higher because all the details on their uniform blew me away. 

4. Green Bay Packers

After starting at these uniforms for two straight hours, I have to admit, they’re really starting to grow on me. When I started this list, I actually had the Packers at SIXTH, but I moved them up to fourth, because I decided that I actually love everything about them. 

They used a vintage green for the jersey color and the best part is that the helmet and pants are alabaster instead of white. I didn’t even know alabaster was a color until three months ago when my wife stated she wanted to paint our bathroom that color. 

As for the Packers using alabaster, that had nothing to do with the paint color my bathroom, They used it because “The alabaster palette is reminiscent of the aged paper of historic Packers stock certificates.”

The team is trying to look like a stock certificate and I actually like it. What a weird day. 

5. Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jaguars were the hardest team to rank because I love the teal helmet, but it just doesn’t make any sense with this wardrobe. 

The white jersey and black pants would have looked good with a black or white helmet. The teal helmet would have looked good with a white jersey and teal pants. The teal helmet might have even worked with a black jersey and black pants. This is literally the one combination where the teal feels kind of iffy. That being stated, I will 100% be buying a teal helmet to put in my background, and once I do, you’ll be able to see it during the videos I do on CBS Sports HQ. 

6. Detroit Lions

I don’t hate the Lions look, but here’s my one problem: It’s like they forgot that they were supposed to design a “Rivalries” jersey and since they didn’t have time to come up with one, they decided to just steal the Panthers’ look. 

Fortunately, the Lions won’t be wearing these uniforms against the Panthers. And that’s a good thing, because I’m not sure the universe could handle it. 

7. Chicago Bears

When the NFL told the Bears to create a “Rivalries” uniform, they somehow interpreted that as “make another throwback uniform,” because that’s exactly what Chicago ended up doing. The Bears had orange numbers on their uniform for most of the 1940s, which also happened to be their “Monsters of the Midway” era, and the team is paying homage to that. 

As a throwback uniform, this is nice, but as a “Rivalries” uniform, I don’t love it. The Packers designed a completely new uniform using a vintage look, and to me, that was the smart way to go. Instead, the Bears created a throwback. 

8. Indianapolis Colts

The problem for the Colts is that their standard uniform is so iconic that it’s hard make an upgrade to it. The Colts have two colors — blue and white — and whenever they introduce a new color to that scheme, things get kind of rocky and I feel like that’s the situation here. The blue helmets are awesome, but I’m not a huge fan of the “Anvil Steel” jerseys. 

Although the Colts ranked at the bottom here, I don’t hate their uniforms. I actually think each team did a good job of creating something new for the their fans.  

Each team will only get to wear their “Rivalries” uniform once and here’s the full schedule (And remember, only the home team will be wearing the new uniform. The visiting team will NOT be wearing their “Rivalries” uniform): 

• Week 3 (Sept. 27): Texans at Colts, 1 p.m. ET (CBS)
• Week 5 (Oct. 11): Bears at Packers, 4:25 p.m. ET (Fox)
• Week 8 (Nov. 1): Vikings at Lions, 1 p.m. ET (Fox)
• Week 8 (Nov. 1): Colts at Jaguars, 1 p.m. ET (CBS)
• Week 10 (Nov. 15): Jaguars at Titans, 1 p.m. ET (Fox)
• Week 11 (Nov. 19): Colts at Texans, 8:15 p.m. ET (Amazon)
• Week 15 (Dec. 20): Lions at Vikings, 8:20 p.m. ET (NBC)
• Week 16 (Dec. 25): Packers at Bears, 1 p.m. ET (Netflix)

After wearing the new uniform this year, each team will be allowed to keep it in their rotation for the next three years.