The Chicago Bears are set to face the Houston Texans on “Sunday Night Football.” Notably, this will be the first prime-time game in the new Caleb Williams era for Chicago, giving Williams and the Bears their first opportunity to really take the NFL by storm.
However, while the game will get played either way, the jersey choice is always an important one. As a result, fans are not happy with the option the Bears chose, opting to wear their orange uniforms.
Why Are the Chicago Bears’ Uniforms Orange?
The Bears’ orange uniforms are hard to miss. The helmet and the jersey are both orange with white pants. As the team’s alternate jersey, they are switching from their usual navy blue primary jerseys.
The team decided to wear their orange in part due to the Texans going for the white-out in their all-white jerseys. However, there’s more reason why exactly the Bears wear orange in the first place.
It goes back to 1923 when the color scheme was changed to navy blue and orange in honor of George Halas’ alma mater, the University of Illinois. The color scheme was changed after renaming themselves the Bears from the “Staleys.” The helmets, though, have been one of the few changes in the Bears’ uniforms over their 105-year history.
🟠 Orange Mode Activated 🟠 pic.twitter.com/n3T30HEioF
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 11, 2024
The Bears reintroduced their orange uniforms back in 2022, donning orange helmets for the first time. The main reason why: They weren’t allowed to. From 2013 and 2022, the NFL’s uniform policy indicated that teams were not allowed to use an alternate helmet during the season. However, the rule was changed, making it more relaxed and allowing teams to wear an alternate helmet.
While it’s new in the modern era, the Bears did use orange leather helmets in the 1930s, before the hard helmets used today were introduced. Ultimately, though, the team’s all-orange helmet is the first major change to the helmet since 1962 when they put the “C” on the side.
Bears’ Record When Wearing All-Orange Look
Since it’s pretty new, “Sunday Night Football” will mark just the fifth time the Bears have rocked their all-orange uniforms. Previously they wore them twice in 2022 and 2023. Considering that the Bears haven’t found much success in general, it also means they haven’t found much success in the all-orange uniforms, holding a 1-3 record with the combo.
Their first two appearances in the combination came as losses, with the Bears not notching a win in them during the 2022 season. They fell to both the Washington Commanders (12-7) and Dallas Cowboys (42-29) in October.
“Worst uniform in the rotation, retire them,” said one fan on X. “It’s so bad,” replied another.
Things didn’t look much better to start 2023 either, with the Bears falling to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (27-17) early in the season, making the uniform 0-3. They did, however, get their first win in November when they faced the Carolina Panthers, winning 16-13.