The Chargers have always resided in Southern California, but on Tuesday, they entered aesthetic paradise.
Los Angeles introduced a brand new ensemble with the help of Good Morning Football that took the Chargers back to the future -- and it's truly glorious.
The always-witty Chargers' social accounts posed the question: How do you make the best (uniforms) better? They then answered their own question by releasing their new uniforms, and instantly declared atop the team's site and in the release video "the best got better."
Typically such self-congratulations might be a bit overboard, but, well, these are indeed excellent uniforms. While there's valid arguments for various uniform contenders, the Chargers at the very least won the battle to marry elements of the team's entire history in one uniform.
There's the powder blue tops and gold pants, which evoke the team's inception in the AFL; the helmet numbers that remind folks of the same period, but also of LaDainian Tomlinson tearing up defenses in the Chargers' beloved throwbacks; the royal set that looks much like the team's Color Rush uniform of the last few years, which was inspired by the team's shift to royal in the mid-to-late 1970s; and the navy alternate, which takes us to the late 1980s into the mid-2000s, a stretch of time that included a Super Bowl appearance and the start of a very successful run in the new century.
The modern numbers are a simplified, less stylized take on the typefont worn by the team since its 2007 redesign. The lightning bolts are free from their color blocking, allowing them to be enlarged and also taking us back to the home uniforms worn by the likes of Tomlinson, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers and the late Junior Seau. They largely match the helmet on each uniform set (with contrasting outlines when needed), but they truly match on the navy set, which features a navy bolt with gold outline on the helmet and throughout the uniform -- another nod to the team's 1960 debut, in which the Chargers wore a similar bolt on their helmets.
One more note about the bolt: It's no longer as curvy, taking on a streamlined, straighter appearance down the pants and adjusted to "move more organically with motion," per the team.
The powder and white tops can be worn with white or gold pants, while the royal set and navy set appear to be intended to be worn on their own. While the Chargers fully embrace the sunshine and temperate climate of Southern California with their new, standard look and color rush set, they bring the menace and threat of lightning in their navy uniform, which matches subtle lightning bolts on the uniforms with the sharp logo on the helmet and appropriate navy facemask.
Earlier this month, the Chargers released new branding featuring a flatter lightning bolt and a new wordmark. The updated bolt now makes more sense, as it allowed for more clearance on the helmet for numbers beneath it. When mixed in with all of the changes, this is a uniform that will undoubtedly look sharp on the field.
