You can count on both the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings to try to use any advantage they have going into their Sunday, January 5, matchup at Ford Field in downtown Detroit. There’s so much at stake with this game, including snagging the top seed in the NFC and NFC North. The winner will also get the first-round playoff bye and home-field advantage for the playoffs, while the loser will go down to fifth seed and be forced to play on the road in the wild-card round.
Ahead of Sunday’s matchup, the Vikings have announced that they’ll be employing a rare combination when they go up against the Lions.
Minnesota Vikings Will Look Different Against the Detroit Lions
The Vikings will be sporting a quite unique look when they go up against the Lions.
“The Vikings will wear a rarely used combination of white jerseys and white pants with purple helmets,” the team announced on Friday, January 3. “This is different from the Winter Warrior look that debuted against Chicago in Week 15.”
As NFL expert and analyst Joe Nelson notes in a January 2 feature for Sports Illustrated, “While full details haven’t been revealed, it sounds like the uniform combination will be similar to the ‘Winter Whiteout’ game the Vikings played on Dec. 24, 2022 against the New York Giants. Minnesota wore white pants, white jerseys and purple helmets for that game.”
The special look matches the importance of the game at hand. According to Craig Peters and Rob Kleifield of the Minnesota Vikings’ staff, “Since playoff seeding began in 1975, this will be just the third time that two opponents have played in the final game of the regular season with the No. 1 seed in a conference on the line (1979 Dallas defeated Washington; 1993 the New York Giants topped the Cowboys).”
On top of that, this is the NFL’s first regular-season game where both teams have more than 13 wins before the game starts. What makes it even more wild for the Vikings, of course, is that they’ve been playing with backup quarterback Sam Darnold all season.
Detroit Lions Will Switch Up Their Look, Too
Don’t worry, Detroit Lions enthusiasts. While the Vikings are sporting a very special look for Sunday’s game, the Lions are doing the same thing. On New Year’s Eve, the team took to X to tease that they’re bringing back their all-black uniforms for the Vikings game. It’s always cool to see a team switch it up and don a different look on the field.
“Guess what’s back, back again,” the post read, referring to the popular Eminem song, “Without Me,” teasing the black look. Eminem, of course, is a big Lions fan, so the post is appropriate.
While the black uniforms are a bit rare for the team, this isn’t the first time the Lions have donned all-black this season. They also wore the uniforms in Week 4 against the Seattle Seahawks, in which the Lions snagged a 42-29 victory, and in Week 15 against the Buffalo Bills, where they fell 45-42. So, this will mark the third time this season fans have seen the Lions in all black.
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