Bear down, fashion up.
The Bears’ uniforms have remain largely unchanged for the better part of their 103-year history, but they’ll have a slightly new look on Thursday night.
The Bears are reintroducing their orange uniforms on Thursday night against the Commanders, but they’ll also be donning orange helmets, too, marking a change in their traditional look.
Roquan Smith is ready for the Bears’ all-orange uniforms on Thursday. pic.twitter.com/sjjzFIe55j
— Sporting News NFL (@sn_nfl) October 12, 2022
MORE: NFL alternate helmets, ranked
While the Bears have always used orange as an accent color and for their alternate uniforms, they’ve never actually leaned into the orange helmet route, too — largely, because they weren’t allowed to.
Here’s what changed:
Why do the Bears have orange helmets?
Between 2013 and 2022, the NFL’s uniform policy indicated that teams were not allowed to use an alternate helmet during the season. While the Bears have used orange uniforms in years past, they’ve never gone full-on orange lid.
With the league relaxing its alternate helmet rules, the Bears are matching the helmets with the uniforms. Orange has been a staple of the Bears’ color scheme since 1922, when they renamed themselves the Bears from the “Staleys.”
The Bears sported orange helmets today at practice, will wear them for the first time in a game Thursday night. pic.twitter.com/TfTJ6dNWBn
— Colleen Kane (@ChiTribKane) October 12, 2022
It’s not the first time the the Bears are going full orange with their helmets. They used orange leather helmets in the 1930s, prior to the introduction of the hard helmets that we know today.
The Bears’ all-orange helmet will be the first major change to their domes since the introduction of the “C” on the side of the helmet in 1962. In 2019, they had a helmet worn with a classic uniform to celebrate 100 years of the NFL.
We’ll see if the new look carries some good juju on “Thursday Night Football.”
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