More good college news! The Vikings will wear throwbacks this weekend

In a year where we've had more than enough bad news regarding our uniforms, it's always nice to get some college goodies.

That's the case this weekend when the Minnesota Vikings host the Houston Texans. The team has announced that they will be reviving their very popular retro looks from last season.

If you're not familiar with the recaps, Paul did an excellent overview when they were published. All the details and nuances are covered.

At the time, it looked like the team would only wear the retro jerseys once, in the 2023 season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

In that game – which ended in a loss for the Vikings – the team wore a Bud Grant commemorative patch on the left chest.

Despite the loss, the retro shirts proved popular with players and fans, and in an unusual (but not unprecedented) move, the team announced in mid-November that it would wear the retro shirts for a second time.

They used it in a Monday Night Football game against the Bears on November 27th.

Unfortunately, the Vikings lost a second time in the return match, losing 12-10 to the Bears on a last-second field goal.

This means the team is still winless in its return games, but hopes to turn things around on Sunday against the Texans.

If you clicked on the article I posted above where Paul discussed the recaps, he mentioned something very prescient.

Update: There are apparently rumors that the Vikes will introduce a white replacement helmet later this season, as the white-over-white combination they wore at a home game late last season was a hit with fans. If that's the case, that would explain why they kept the matte helmet for the retro game, preserving the option for a different shell.

But there's a catch: alternate helmets can supposedly only be worn with alternate uniforms, and white/white isn't an alternate combination for the Vikings — they wear them all the time on the road, and it's just their regular white jerseys and white pants. But the NFL seems to get around these kinds of rules a lot, so we'll see.

Well, the Vikings didn’t introduce a new white helmet (or uniform) last season, but the did this year, when the team unveiled its new Winter Warrior uniform and helmet in June. That explains why they simply modified their existing matte purple helmet last year — they were preparing to add the white bucket this season. Perhaps next season, when all NFL teams are allowed to have three different helmet shells, they'll add a contemporary helmet to wear with the retro helmets.

With the throwbacks scheduled for this weekend and the Winter Warrior uniform to be worn on December 16, that's two (of three) alternate uniform/helmet games allowed. Will the Vikings add a second throwback game this season (like last year)? We'll just have to wait and see.

Anyway, it was nice to get some good news from the university this week!

What do you think about the Vikings throwbacks? Should they introduce a third shell next season to make the throwbacks even more accurate?

I would be happy to hear your opinion!