Confirming our report from earlier this month, Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney II revealed this week that they will wear new throwback uniforms with new helmets when they host the Green Bay Packers on Oct. 26 (8:20 p.m. ET on NBC).
“We are going to have a new throwback uniform this year, and with a new helmet to go with it,” Rooney told team reporter Bob Labriola on Wednesday. “It’ll be fun to wear our throwbacks against one of the older franchises in the league – that just seems to be appropriate.”
The Steelers will unveil the uniforms in July, which is when the Cleveland Browns, Los Angeles Chargers, New Orleans Saints and Washington Commanders are also set to reveal their new alternate helmets. Details about the specific designs are limited at this time, however.
While Rooney’s comments suggest the Steelers will reintroduce something they haven’t worn in decades, it’s worth noting that the addition of a gold helmet and pants to their current Color Rush jerseys would still constitute as a “new” uniform.
Such a uniform would draw inspiration from their 1946-59 home uniforms and differentiate the look from their 2007-10 throwback design, which replicated their 1960-1962 home uniforms with gold helmets, black jerseys and white pants.
Rooney could also be talking about the action of moving away from their 1970-inspired throwback uniforms, which have been in the rotation since 2018 and were – aside from the block font – similar to their current home design, rather than unveiling an entirely “new” throwback uniform.
It’s a bit nuanced, of course, but what other throwback options do the Steelers have, especially when they’re adding a second (different colour) shell to complete the look? That rules out anything after 1963, when they introduced black helmets, including the 1966-67 “Batman” jerseys.
They’ve also only worn black or gold helmets throughout their history, aside from when they temporarily merged with the Philadelphia Eagles to form the “Steagles” in 1943 and the Chicago Cardinals to form “Card-Pitt” in 1944 due to a shortage of players during World War II.
That effectively leaves the Steelers’ 1934-35 and 1940-42 gold jerseys as the only uniforms they haven’t reprised, having also worn their 1933 uniforms during the NFL’s 75th season in 1994 and their “bumblebee” uniforms (also from 1933) from 2012-16 – though both were paired with black shells instead of their original gold lids.
In addition to the throwback announcement, Rooney also revealed the Steelers will wear their full Color Rush uniforms – which include their standard black helmets, black jerseys with gold numbers and stripes and matching black pants – against the Miami Dolphins on Dec. 15 (8:15 p.m. ET on ESPN).
“We’ll be doing our Color Rush uniforms late in the year,” Rooney said. “I think we’re going to do it for the Monday night game on Dec. 15 against the Miami Dolphins.”
Photos courtesy of @steelers on X/Twitter.
