With them now set to get an up close look at a classic throwback uniform when they play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 6 this season, it's been somewhat expected the Detroit Lions will have some sort of uniform tweak of their own for the upcoming season.
A throwback jersey? A entire unique jersey, pants and helmet combination? Well, on Monday night the team's Twitter account posted this tease.
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) June 20, 2023
Of course you can see Wednesday's date, June 21, on what looks to be a classic Ford car. The license plate read "ALT HMT", a clear short-hand tease for "alternate helmet." The year of the car is unclear but it's clearly older. So perhaps that's an indicator of what year, or at least the era, in Lions' history the alternate helmet will come from.
The plate also says "Historical" to further suggest it will be a pretty old alternate helmet....perhaps to 1957, the last championship year in franchise history?
What will the Detroit Lions alternate helmet look like?
Paul Lukas of Uni Watch has some theories about what the Lions' alternate helmet will look like, including white with blue graphics and a blue center stripe, all blue, chrome with a blue Lions logo or a true throwback harkening way back to the 1940s or 1950s.
Count ESPN's Field Yates as a fan of the all-blue.
A blue Lions alternate helmet would be elite https://t.co/EwIic98voy pic.twitter.com/dtb9ZHVt8Q
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) June 20, 2023
The Lions second-most recent championship came in 1953, so this year is the 70th anniversary. That's where a slighly deeper theory from Lukas gets interesting.
Per the Gridiron Uniform Database, the Lions wore gold helmets for a few years in the 1950s.
"But let me just point out, for the sake of argument, that the Lions won the 1953 NFL championship while wearing the gold helmets. This year will be the 70th anniversary of that title. Hmmmmm."Paul Lukas, Uni Watch
So what will the Lions alternate helmet, and a presumed alternate uniform to go with it, look like? What would you like to see? We'll all find out on Wednesday, presumably along with what game(s) the team will wear them in during the coming season