The Vikings will no longer appear to have multiple purples.
The team announced on Thursday that the color of the helmet has been lightened “to ensure consistency in all situations and provide a perfect match between the helmet and the jersey.”
Apparently, the darker pre-2019 helmet wasn’t always a match, based on the ambient and artificial lighting. Now, the purple of the jersey will be the same purple of the helmet.
That’s good, but they need to go farther. The trendy matte finish is played out; the Vikings should re-embrace the shiny, pre-Nike purple that their helmets had for decades. While they’re at it, dump the Nikeified numbers, and re-embrace the simple and clean pre-1996 uniforms, with numbers at the bottoms of the sleeves and a UCLA/LSU-style over-the-shoulder stripes on the road jersey.
It’s also time to ditch the 3D shading on the helmet horn decal.
From the Raiders to the Packers to the Cowboys to the Bears to the Steelers (but for their own number change in the 1990s), the classic uniforms are the best uniforms. The Vikings had one, until they felt compelled to change them in 1996, 2006, and 2012.
And, yes, you can now get off my lawn.