For Christmas Eve, Minnesota broke out the all white uniforms, painted the field logo and endzone white, and asked fans to wear white in the Saturday matchup with the New York Giants. Minnesota would go on to win 27-24 thanks to a clutch 61-yd field goal from polarizing kicker Greg Joseph as the team advanced to a 12-3 record, controlling their own destiny for the 2nd seed in the NFC. The thing I wanted to make an observation on, however, is the special uniforms Minnesota decided to wear for the game. It’s not the first time they’d worn all white as it’s become a more common uniform combination on multiple occasions in recent seasons, however now Minnesota’s committed a full game, theme and all, towards the uniform. Could it be a sign to come for more events such as this?
White-out isn’t a foreign concept to sports games, as Penn State made the white-out theme iconic with their commitment to the event being an ever spectacular sight under the lights, and now Minnesota seem to be joining the party. It’s another event in a string of new ideas the teams conducted to be more involved with fans, refreshing considering fan engagement is always a positive.
The one thing that may have spoiled the all white look was the purple helmets. Don’t get me wrong, they’re a staple of the Minnesota Vikings, but it’s not really white-out if the helmet isn’t white. It’s possible Minnesota came up with the idea after the deadline for announcing alternate helmets, but all it does is possibly tease the introduction of said helmets in the near future. Vikings fans have wanted alternate helmets since the rule had been announced, whether it be throwbacks or something potentially new. A throwback to the Randy Moss era uniforms in particular were always in high demand, but a white alternate helmet would actually be a welcome change to the status quo of Vikings uniforms.
Minnesota’s uniform history is underwhelming if not consistent. Purple top, white bottom, purple helmet, rinse and repeat for 60 years. It’s nice to see the team taking some “risks” as they enter a new era under Kevin O’Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. Innovation at the forefront of the future, hopefully the white helmet isn’t matte.
