Nike and the NFL started a "Rivalries" uniform program last season that featured teams from the NFC West and AFC East. Teams selected for this program each year can only wear their Rivalries uniforms once per regular season.
Fans can check out my rankings from last year here.
Now let's get into the best-to-worst rankings of the 2026 Rivalries uniform field.
Green Bay Packers - Grade: B
The Packers were the only bearable one in the group that didn't make me want to grab a trash can immediately. Despite their helmet color being "Alabaster" and not a definite white, it's still a relatively clean look.
However, the triple-color collar is off-putting. I get that it matches the shoulder stripes, but there's a reason why most teams in both college and pro ball don't do that. Not to mention, the "GB" patch looks awfully close to the Kennessaw State and Bethune-Cookman logos. But it's ultimately a nice ode to the Packers from the 60s and could even make for some nice merchandise too.
It's far from the worst in the group. And it could definitely be seen as one that gets better the more we see it and possibly an alternate that sticks around for quite some time. The number design is clean, as is the jersey overall. Nothing wrong with a safe play.
Minnesota Vikings - Grade: D
This is where the falloff begins.
It looks great at first. Then you watch a TikTok video on the Vikings' official page where the helmet and jersey are different colors compared to the graphics.
The Vikings had the chance to go full dark purple glossy helmet, but resorted to the trend of yet another matte helmet. This time it's one with a gold facemask and a questionable Nordic knot-patterned stripe down the middle.
While a lot of people love the numbers style, I think it was a botched opportunity to follow in Norway's national soccer team's footsteps with the true slimmer Nordic numbers. Going with the basic nameplate design was also a miss. Then, of course, no stylized socks are a major drawback.
If they made the pants white instead of purple, turned the helmet full glossy dark purple, and did better with the helmet stripe, it'd be an "A" without question.
Houston Texans - Grade: D
Oh, look, another "whiteout" uniform with no stylized socks. And this time it comes with a terribly styled number with no outline at all and a putrid AI video reveal as well.
If they didn't follow the stupid trend of glossy numbers like other teams are doing, this uniform would actually be halfway decent. Spare me the "it pays homage to the city of Houston" argument as if that automatically makes it better.
The helmet saves it.
Tennessee Titans - Grade: D-
How does a team with red in their color palette have the opportunity to create the perfect trim with their numbers, helmets, and sleeves and just...don't?
The helmet, already ruined by the laughable new logo, is now in black (extremely dark blue?) and white. Why? For what? Couldn't even make the stars red or anything?
Tennessee's only saving grace with this uniform is the neon-styled numbers. Besides that, this is a far cry from being the best uniform in their own wardrobe, let alone the 2026 Rivalries group.
An organization that once had one of my favorite uniform wardrobes in the NFL from 1999 to 2017 is steering down the wrong path with these.
Detroit Lions - Grade: F-
"Oh, it's not white, it's gray. So it's not a Panthers rip-off." Keep telling yourselves that. If Nike took away the "Detroit" on the front of the jersey and ran a campaign to guess who that uniform is for, everyone would guess the Panthers.
The Lions have a history of black in their jerseys, specifically during the Matthew Stafford-Calvin Johnson Jr. era, and they were incredible.
Recently, the Lions have been hell-bent on reintroducing black into new uniform designs, and they all dramatically fail. Sit there and praise the carbon fiber aspect of the black in the jersey all you want; these are genuinely awful.
Not even a logo on the sleeve? Laziness at its finest. A franchise that was once able to hold its head high on having one of the most iconic wardrobes in the sport has drastically fallen from grace.
Jacksonville Jaguars - Grade: F-
If you're going to do a three-tone mismatch with the helmet, jersey, and pants, you better have a great design that meshes all three together well. Unfortunately, the Jaguars swung, missed, and fell in the dirt while the bat went flying into the stands.
The teal helmet, while respectable in its attempt, was awfully executed. And the spotted pants are the most laughable thing I may have ever seen on any football uniform. And for some reason, they went back to the cut-off collars that were originally on a lot of NFL teams' jerseys when Nike first took over the designs for the NFL in 2012.
It's a bummer, too, because the number designs are fantastic and they have arguably the coolest color palette in the entire league. But this was a massive miss.
Chicago Bears - Grade: F-
The Chicago Fighting Illini or the Syracuse Bears? Take your pick. The Bears arrived with a less-than-favorable Rivalries jersey reveal. In what may possibly be the absolute worst shoulder stripes I've seen on a jersey, they missed the mark drastically on these.
The orange helmet makes its return in this "Inspired by the past. Built for the future." design that the Bears are rolling with, and I cannot help but feel disappointment.
I understand the Bears always want to be tied to their rich history, but maybe it's time to let go of the glory days that a lot of grown Bears fans in 2026 have never even lived through. It was a chance to deliver something new and fresh, and it fell flat.
I will say, though, that I appreciate the Bears' design team at least having a striped socks design that somewhat helps the uniform design overall.
Indianapolis Colts - Grade: So terrible it doesn't deserve one
I didn't think there could be a worse uniform reveal this season than the all-gray Buffalo Bills' monstrosities. But the new Colts' "anvil" gray is putrid in every sense of the word.
Not only do they have the cheap-looking glossy black shoulder stripes, but the white outline on their numbers looks totally off thanks to a blue helmet with a black facemask and a plain black stripe down the middle.
The Colts' all-blue uniform with the black helmet is already bad enough, but the mismatched helmet with the all-gray uniform is brutal, just like it is with Buffalo's. And, once again, another team that refuses to give any sock design. At this point, just don't even have the tights anymore.
That's now twice the Colts have tried to branch off from their classic home and away uniforms, two that I consider some of the best in the NFL outright, with a pair of eyesores as alternates.
Genuinely awful from top to bottom. Stop including colors that have nothing to do with your franchise. Hopefully this all-gray trend dies out immediately.
Thank goodness these are only a once-a-season thing.