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Eagles Choose to Wear Green Jerseys in 2023 Super Bowl Despite Dark Jerseys Having Terrible Winning Record

Chris Amberley

by Chris Amberley in NFL Football

Updated Jan 31, 2023 · 3:42 PM PST

Jalen Hurts pregame entrance
Jan 29, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) reacts before the start of the NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
  • The Eagles have selected to wear their dark green jerseys for Super Bowl 57
  • Philadelphia is ignoring the trend that 15 of the past 18 Super Bowl Champions have worn white
  • Keep reading for more jersey trends and analysis ahead of the big game

As bettors, trends can help shape our decisions. It’s not the only thing you look at when handicapping a game, but it can be a valuable part of the process. Certain trends are worth a lot, while others are just noise.

The Philadelphia Eagles clearly believe the Super Bowl jersey trend is simply a whole lot of noise. As the home team, Philadelphia was given the option of going with either their dark green or white jerseys, and they opted go green. That decision goes against a pretty significant Super Bowl trend which we’ll explore below.

The Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs were the NFC’s and AFC’s top seeds, each finishing with identical 14-3 records. Both are 2-0 in the postseason, but Philly was awarded home field advantage because the NFC is the designated home team in odd-numbered Super Bowls. In even numbered Super Bowls the honor belongs to the AFC team.

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Super Bowl Jersey Trends

Last year, the Cincinnati Bengals elected to go with their dark jerseys and they came up short versus the LA Rams. That means the team that wears white jerseys in the big game has now won nine of the last 11 Super Bowls, and is 15-3 over the last 18 years.

Super Bowl Winners – Last 11 Years

Year Winner Uniform Color
2022 LA Rams White
2021 Tampa Bay Buccaneers White
2020 Kansas City Chiefs Dark
2019 New England Patriots White
2018 Philadelphia Eagles Dark
2017 New England Patriots White
2016 Denver Broncos White
2015 New England Patriots White
2014 Seattle Seahawks White
2013 Baltimore Ravens White
2012 New York Giants White

Interestingly enough, the last team to win the Super Bowl wearing their dark jerseys was the Chiefs in 2020. They defeated the San Francisco 49ers 31-20, and bucked the trend as the home team by selecting their dark red uniforms.

The only other team to wear dark colored jerseys and win the Super Bowl over the past 11 years is actually the Eagles. Philadelphia wasn’t given the option to select their uniform as the visiting team in 2018, but still managed to defeat the New England Patriots who opted for their white jerseys.

Going dark has been the preferred choice for the Eagles when it comes to the Super Bowl. In each of their previous three appearances, they’ve worn their dark green jerseys. That’s resulted in a 1-2 record, losing to the Raiders franchise in 1981, and the Patriots in 2005. They extracted some revenge in 2018, shocking New England 41-33 as 5-point underdogs thanks to a MVP performance from Nick Foles.

KC meanwhile, will wear white in a Super Bowl for the first time since the inaugural Big Game in 1967. The Chiefs fell 35-10 to the Green Bay Packers on that day, and have worn their dark red uniforms in each of their three subsequent Super Bowl trips.

KC won two of those three contests, beating the Minnesota Vikings in 1970 and the Niners in 2020. They fell to Tom Brady and the Buccaneers in 2021, mustering just nine points which at the time was the lowest ever by a Patrick Mahomes led offense.

Eagles and Chiefs Success Is Color Blind

Philadelphia set a franchise record with 14 regular season wins this past year. With a record that strong, it’s safe to assume they performed well in all jersey combinations. But just for fun, we took a look at exactly how many wins and losses each jersey and pant combination produced.

Their most common outfit was their dark green jersey paired with their white pants. They posted an 8-2 record in that combo, and that was the outfit of choice for both the Divisional Round and Conference Championship victories.

Conversely, they were undefeated when wearing white jerseys with green pants. They went 4-0 in that combo, and were 1-0 in both their white jerseys and white pants, and white jerseys and black pants. The only other combo they wore was black jerseys with black pants, and that produced a 2-1 record.

Much like Philadelphia this season, the Chiefs have found success regardless of their outfit. KC was 4-2 in their white jerseys and red pants, which is what they’ll don in Super Bowl 57.

They were 2-0 in their all white uniforms, and 10-1 in their red jersey, white pants look. The Chiefs have already played one game this season at the State Farm Stadium, home of Super Bowl 57, and it was in the same uniform combo they’ll be wearing for the Big Game.

They put up a season-best 44 points in that outing, while Mahomes threw for a season-high 5 TD passes and 360 yards.

Philly might not be buying into the Super Bowl jersey trend, but bettors believe it has some merit. The Eagles have gone from a 2-point favorite to -1.5. Philly’s moneyline price tag reached -135 at one point, but has since been trimmed back down to -118. Per the NFL public money splits, 63% of the spread money as of Tuesday night is backing Kansas City.

Can the Eagles Buck the Trend One More Time?

Top to bottom, the AFC was a much stronger conference than the NFC. That’s why an AFC team was favored in the Super Bowl odds for virtually the entire season. The gauntlet of talented teams and quarterbacks the Chiefs played and beat, is head and shoulders above the competition Philadelphia faced.

The Eagles may be 16-1 in Jalen Hurts’ 17 starts, but the best QB he’s beaten is Aaron Rodgers on the back nine of his career. They beat a New York Giants team that was 3-6-1 in their final nine regular season games in the Divisional Round, and a San Francisco 49ers squad that couldn’t field a healthy quarterback in the NFC Championship.

Mahomes and KC meanwhile, took down Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert (twice), Trevor Lawrence (twice), Tom Brady and the Niners when they were healthy. They’re used to taking on the big boys and winning, and this Chiefs team will be a major step up in competition for Philadelphia.

That’s the reason to back KC in Super Bowl 57, along with the fact that they have the league MVP in Mahomes. Although, it certainly doesn’t hurt that the jersey trend is also on their side.

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