White at Home in the NFL

By Tim Brulia

What follows is a team-by-team breakdown listing every instance of an NFL team wearing white at home since 1957 (for further info on NFL uniform history, check out the Gridiron Uniform Database):

Bears: 2005 vs. Lions, 2006 vs. Lions, 2007 vs. Chiefs, 2010 vs. Lions

Bengals: 1970 every home game; 1971 every home game except vs. Oilers and Chargers; 1977 vs. Broncos; 1978 vs. Saints; 1979 vs. Patriots, Oilers and Steelers; 1980 vs. Bucs, Steelers, Oilers and Vikings; 1981 vs. Seahawks, Browns, Bills and Steelers; 1982 vs. Oilers; 1983 vs. Raiders, Bills, Colts and Browns; 1984 vs. Chiefs, Rams, Oilers and Browns; 1992 vs. Raiders and Vikings; 1993 vs. Colts, Seahawks and Browns; 2001 vs. Patriots & Ravens; 2002 vs. Chargers; 2005 vs. Vikings; 2006 vs. Browns; 2008 vs. Titans; 2009 vs. Broncos; 2010 vs. Ravens

Bills: 1980 every home game except vs. Steelers and Rams; 1981 every home game except vs. Patriots and Redskins; 1982 vs. Chiefs & Vikings; 1983 vs. Dolphins, Colts, and Oilers; 1984 every home game; 1985 vs. Chargers, Patriots and Vikings; 1986 vs. Jets, Cardinals, Chiefs and Colts; 2011 vs. Jets

Broncos: 1971 every home game; 1980 vs. Cowboys & Chargers; 1983 vs. Eagles, Raiders & Bengals; 2003 vs. Chargers (Shanahan Uniformgate).

Browns: 1964-1967 every home game; 1968 every home game except vs. Rams; 1969-1974 every home game; 1976 & 1977 every home game; 1978 vs. 49ers, Bengals, Oilers and Steelers; 1979 vs. Colts, Cowboys, Steelers and Redskins; 1980 vs. Oilers, Chiefs, Broncos and Packers; 1981 vs. Chargers, Oilers and Falcons; 1982 vs. Eagles; 1983 vs. Vikings, Seahawks, and Jets; 1985-1988 every home game; 1989 vs. Jets, Bears, Oilers and Chiefs; 1990 vs. Steelers, Chargers and Oilers; 1994 vs. Cardinals (throwback uniforms); 1995 every home game; 2000 vs. Jags & Steelers; 2001 every home game except vs. Bengals; 2002 vs. Chiefs and Bengals; 2003 vs. Colts (orange pants); 2004 vs. Ravens; 2005 vs. Bengals, Bears and Lions; 2006 vs. Saints; 2008 vs. Cowboys; 2011 every home game

Buccaneers: 1976 every home game; 1985 vs. Vikings and Bears; 1986 every home game except vs. Lions and Packers; 1989-1991 every home game; 1992 every home game except vs. Rams and Falcons; 1993 vs. Chiefs, Lions, Packers and 49ers; 1994 every home game; 1995 every home game except vs. Packers and Lions; 1996 every home game; 1997 (no more Bucco Bruce) vs. 49ers, Cardinals, Lions and Vikings; 1998 vs. Bears, Giants and Panthers; 1999 vs. Giants, Broncos (white pants) and Bears; 2000 vs. Bears, Jets and Vikings; 2001 vs. Packers and Steelers; 2002 vs. Saints (white pants), Rams, Browns and Vikings; 2003 vs. Panthers and Cowboys; 2004 vs. Seahawks, Broncos, Bears and Chiefs; 2005 vs. Bills (white pants), Lions (white pants), Dolphins, Panthers and Redskins; 2006 vs. Ravens (white pants), Panthers (white pants), Bengals and Eagles; 2007 vs. Saints, Rams, Titans and Jags (all white pants), and also in Jan. 2008 wild card playoff game vs. Giants; 2008 vs. Falcons, Packers, and Panthers (white pants); 2009 vs. Cowboys, Giants, and Panthers (all in white pants); 2010 vs. Browns (white pants), Steelers (white pants), Saints (pewter pants) and Rams (white pants); 2011 vs. Lions (white pants), Falcons (pewter pants), and Saints (white pants)

Cardinals: 1964 and 1965 every home game; 1966 vs. Cowboys and Steelers; 1967 vs. Giants, Lions, and Steelers; 1968 vs. Saints and Steelers; 1969 vs. Vikings and Steelers; 1970 vs. Cowboys and Patriots; 1971 vs. Cowboys and Eagles; 1972 vs. Steelers and Rams; 1973 vs. Redskins, Raiders and Cowboys; 1974 vs. Browns and Cowboys; 1975 vs. Giants and Cowboys; 1976 vs. Giants and Cowboys; 1977 vs. Bears, Cowboys and Saints; 1978 every home game; 1979 vs. Cowboys, Steelers, Redskins and Eagles; 1980 vs. Giants, Eagles, Rams and Cowboys; 1981 vs. Dolphins, Redskins and Cowboys; 1982 & 1983 vs. Cowboys; 1988 vs. Redskins, Steelers and Browns; 1989 every home game; 1990 vs. Redskins, Cowboys, Bears and Packers; 1991 vs. Cowboys, Patriots, Falcons, Vikings and Giants; 1992 vs. Eagles, Redskins, Saints, 49ers and Cowboys; 1993 vs. Cowboys, Patriots, Redskins, Saints and Eagles; 1994 vs. Giants, Vikings, Cowboys and Steelers (throwback uniforms); 1995 vs. Eagles, Chiefs, Redskins and Seahawks; 1996 vs. Dolphins, Rams, Bucs and Jets; 1997 vs. Cowboys, Vikings and Giants; 1998 vs. Eagles, Raiders and Bears; 1999 vs. Giants, Redskins and Patriots; 2000 vs. Cowboys, Packers, Browns, Eagles and Saints; 2001 vs. Broncos and Falcons; 2002 vs. Chargers, Giants and Cowboys; 2003 vs. Seahawks, Packers and Ravens; 2004 vs. Patriots (white pants), Saints and Seahawks; 2005 vs. Rams, 49ers (Mexico City they Cards were the home team), Panthers and Titans; 2009 vs. Texans.

Chargers: 1971 every home game; 1978-1983 every home game; 1985 vs. Seahawks, Browns, Chiefs and Broncos; 1986 vs. Cowboys; 1990 vs. Raiders and Jets; 1991 every home game; 2001 vs. Redskins and Bengals (white pants); 2002 vs. Texans, Patriots and Chiefs; 2004 vs. Jets and Titans; 2007 vs. Bears; 2008 vs. Panthers; 2009 vs. Ravens and Dolphins; 2010 vs. Jaguars; 2011 vs. Vikings, Chiefs, and Dolphins

Chiefs: 1980 every home game; 2006 vs. Bengals (white pants).

Colts: 1964 every home game except extra home game vs. Cardinals; 1965 every home game; 1980 vs. Steelers, Jets, Patriots, Cardinals and Browns; 1981 vs. Cowboys; 1995 vs. Bengals (blue pants) and Jets.

Cowboys: 1964-1969 every home game; 1970 every home game except SB V vs. Colts; 1971-2010 every home game except: 2001 vs. Broncos, 2002 vs. Redskins, 2003 vs. Dolphins, 2004 vs. Bears, 2005 vs. Redskins and Broncos, 2006 vs. Buccaneers and Eagles, 2007 vs. Packers, 2008 vs. 49ers, 2009 vs. Raiders, 2010 vs. Saints.

Dolphins: 1972 every home game except vs. Bills and Cardinals; 1973 every home game except vs. Steelers and Lions and SB VIII vs. Vikings; 1974 vs. Colts, Bills and Patriots; 1975 every home game except Monday nighters vs. Raiders and Patriots; 1976 vs. Jets, Chiefs, Patriots and Vikings; 1977 every home game; 1978 every home game except vs. Bengals and Patriots; 1979 every home game except vs. Oilers and Patriots; 1980 vs. Bengals, Saints, Colts, Bills and Jets; 1981 every home game except vs. Steelers, Eagles and “Epic in Miami” vs. Chargers; 1982 every home game except vs. Bills; 1983 every home game except vs. Bengals and Jets; 1984 every home game except vs. Jets and Cowboys; 1985 every home game except vs. Bears1986 every home game except vs. Jets and Patriots; 1987 vs. Chiefs, Bills, Steelers and Colts; 1988 vs. Packers, Vikings, Chargers, Jets and Colts; 1989 every home game except vs. Patriots (vs. Bills and Jets in green pants); 1990 (switched to green pants as default w/white jerseys) vs. Bills, Jets, Cardinals, Seahawks and Colts (wore aqua in AFC WCG vs. Chiefs); 1991 vs. Colts, Packers, Oilers, Bucs and Jets; 1992 vs. Rams, Falcons, Patriots, Colts and Oilers (wore aqua in AFC DPG vs. Chargers but wore white in AFC CG vs. Bills); 1993 vs. Jets (white pants), Chiefs, Patriots, Giants and Bills; 1994 (white pants w/white jerseys @ home) vs. Patriots, Jets (throwback unis), Raiders, Colts and Bears (AFC WCG vs. Chiefs wore aqua jerseys); 1995 vs. Jets, Colts, Bills, Patriots and Falcons; 1996 (back to aqua pants) every home game; 1997 vs. Colts, Oilers, Chiefs, Bears and Jets; 1998 every home game except vs. Jets and Broncos (including AFC WCG vs. Bills); 1999 vs. Cardinals, Eagles, Patriots, Colts and Chargers; 2000 every home game except vs. Ravens (after home games vs. Seahawks and Patriots have not worn aqua pants w/white jerseys @ home since), also wore white @ home vs. Colts in AFC WCG; 2001 every home game except vs. Colts (including AFC WCG vs. Ravens); 2002 every home game except vs. Bears; 2003 vs. Texans, Patriots, Colts, Ravens and Jets; 2004 every home game except vs. Patriots and Browns; 2005 every home game; 2006 every home game except vs. Jets; 2007 every home game except vs. Giants (@ Wembley Stadium in London); 2008 every home game; 2009 every home game except vs. Colts and Jets; 2010 vs. Steelers, Titans, Browns, Bills, and Lions; 2011 vs. Texans and Broncos

Eagles: 1967 vs. Saints; 1971 every home game; 1973 every home game; 1980 NFC CG vs. Cowboys; 1982 vs. Redskins; 1983 vs. Redskins, Cardinals, Bears and Cowboys; 1984 vs. Vikings and 49ers; 1985 (new unis) & 1986 every home game; 1987 vs. Saints, Bears and Cowboys; 1988 every home game; 1989 every home game except vs. Raiders (including NFC WCG vs. Rams); 1990 vs. Cardinals and Colts; 1991 vs. Cardinals and Steelers; 1992 vs. Saints, Brocnos and Cowboys; 1993 vs. Cardinals, Redskins, Bears and Cowboys; 1994 vs. Bears, Packers (throwbacks) and Redskins; 1995 every home game (including NFC WCG vs. Lions); 1996 (new unis) vs. Lions, Cowboys (green pants) and Dolphins; 1997 vs. Packers, Redskins and Cardinals; 1998 vs. Seahawks, Chiefs and Redskins; 1999 vs. Cardinals, Bucs and Cowboys (all green pants); 2001 vs. Rams (white pants) and Cowboys (green pants); 2003 vs. Bucs, Patriots (both in white pants) and Redskins (green pants); 2004 vs. Giants and Panthers; 2005 vs. 49ers; 2006 vs. Giants and Cowboys; 2007 vs. Redskins and Cowboys; 2008 vs. Rams, Steelers, and Redskins; 2009 vs. Saints, Chiefs and Buccaneers (all in green pants); 2010 vs. Redskins and Falcons

Falcons: 1966 vs. Cowboys and Rams; 1967 vs. Redskins and Rams; 1968 vs. Colts and Steelers; 1977 vs. Rams; 1978 vs. Oilers and Browns; 1979 vs. Broncos; 1980 vs. Dolphins; 1981 vs. Saints and 49ers; 1982 vs. Raiders; 1983 vs. Giants; 1984 vs. Lions; 1985 vs. Lions and Broncos; 1986 every home game; 1987 vs. Redskins, Steelers, 49ers, Rams and Saints; 1989 every home game; 1997 vs. Raiders, Broncos and Eagles; 1998 vs. Panthers; 1999 vs. Ravens; 2000 vs. Giants and Panthers; 2002 vs. Bengals; 2003 vs. Vikings.

49ers: 1976 every home game; 1979 vs. Cowboys, Saints and Seahawks.

Giants: 1967 every home game; 1980 every home game; 1981, 1983-1987 vs. Cowboys; 2000 vs. Cardinals.

Jaguars: 1995 every home game except vs. Packers, Colts, and Browns; 1996 vs. Steelers, Oilers, Panthers and Jets; 1997 vs. Giants, Bengals, Eagles and Chiefs; 1998 vs. Chiefs, Ravens and Bengals; 1999 vs. 49ers, Titans and Browns; 2000 vs. Bengals, Steelers, Redskins and Seahawks; 2001 vs. Steelers, Titans and Browns; 2002 vs. Colts, Jets, Eagles and Texans; 2003 vs. Bills, Dolphins (white pants) and Titans (black pants); 2005 vs. Seahawks (white pants); 2006 vs. Cowboys and Jets (white pants both times); 2007 vs. Titans, Falcons (white pants) and Texans (black pants); 2011 vs. Titans, Saints, and Bengals

Jets: 1970 vs. Vikings; 1971 vs. Chiefs; 1972 vs. Colts; 1974 vs. Rams; 1975 vs. Steelers; 1978 vs. Seahawks; 1985-1989 every home game; 1993 vs. Bengals; 1994 vs. Broncos and Bears (“throwbacks” vs. Bears); 2002 vs. Patriots; 2004 vs. Bengals; 2007 vs. Patriots; 2009 vs. Patriots and Dolphins (AFL Legacy); 2010 vs. Ravens and Patriots

Lions: 1961 vs. Packers; 1970 vs. Raiders.

Oilers/Titans: 1973 vs. Steelers, Rams, Broncos and Raiders; 1974 vs. Steelers, Cowboys and Browns; 1981-1983 every home game; 1984 vs. Raiders, Colts, Saints and 49ers; 1997 & 1998 every home game (white pants); 2000 vs. Chiefs and Giants; 2001 vs. Bucs; 2002 vs. Eagles and Browns (white pants both times); 2004 vs. Colts; 2007 vs. Colts (sky-blue pants); 2009 vs. Texans; 2010 vs. Raiders and Steelers; 2011 vs. Ravens and Broncos

Packers: 1989 vs. Bucs and Saints.

Panthers: 1995 vs. Rams, Bucs, Jets and Saints; 1996 vs. Falcons, 49ers, Rams, Saints and NFC DPG vs. Cowboys; 1997 vs. Redskins, Chiefs, 49ers and Falcons; 1998 vs. Falcons and Packers; 1999 vs. Jaguars, Bengals, Lions and Eagles; 2000 vs. Falcons, Cowboys, Seahawks and 49ers; 2001 vs. Packers and Saints; 2002 vs. Ravens, Lions and Cardinals; 2003 vs. Jaguars, Falcons, Saints and NFC WCG vs. Cowboys; 2004 vs. Packers and Falcons; 2005 vs. Saints, Patriots and Cowboys; 2006 vs. Falcons, Saints and Browns; 2007 vs. Texans; 2008 vs. Bears, Falcons, and Chiefs; 2009 vs. Eagles and Redskins; 2010 vs. Buccaneers, Bengals and Bears; 2011 vs. Packers, Jaguars, and Saints

Patriots: 1980 vs. Browns, Falcons, Dolphins and Rams; 1981 vs. Colts (back to white pants); 1985 (except SB XX vs. Bears) & 1986 every home game (red pants); 1987 vs. Dolphins, Browns and Bills; 1988 (back to white pants) vs. Jets, Bills and Colts; 1990 (red pants) vs. Dolphins and I believe vs. Jets; 1994 vs. Packers (throwbacks); 2003-2007 they wore dishwater grey jerseys once or twice a year – ’03 vs. Cowboys & Dolphins; ’04 vs. Bengals; ’05 vs. Chargers; ’06 vs. Texans; ’07 vs. Bills; 2008 vs. Chiefs and Dolphins; 2010 vs. Bengals; 2011 vs. Cowboys

Raiders: 2008 vs. Chargers; 2009 vs. Chargers (AFL Legacy).

Rams: 1964-1971 every home game; 1972 vs. Saints and 49ers; 1978 vs. Falcons, Cowboys, Saints, Bucs, Packers, NFC DPG vs. Vikings and NFC CG vs. Cowboys; 1979 vs. Chargers and Raiders; 1980 vs. Cowboys; 1981 vs. Oilers, Browns and Falcons; 1982 every home game; 1993 every home game; 1994 vs. Cardinals, Falcons, and Giants; 2008 vs. Cowboys.

Ravens: 2002 vs. Bucs; 2003 vs. Browns; 2004 vs. Steelers; 2006 vs. Raiders; 2008 vs. Bengals and Titans; 2009 vs. Chiefs; 2011 vs. Steelers

Redskins: 1964 every home game; 1981-2000 every home game except 1994 vs. Falcons; 2002 vs. Cardinals and Cowboys; 2003 vs. Jets, Giants (white pants in both), Patriots and Cowboys (burgandy pants in both); 2004-2007 every home game (’05 vs. Cowboys and Giants; ’06 vs. Vikings, Jaguars, Titans and Cowboys in white pants; ’07 vs. Giants in throwback yellow pants); 2008 vs. Saints, Cardinals, Rams, Browns (all with white pants), Cowboys (burgundy pants); 2009 every home game except vs. Broncos, Saints, and Giants.

Saints: 1967-1968 every home game; 1971-1974 every home game; 1975 vs. Bengals, Packers, Vikings and Falcons; 1976 vs. Oilers; 1981 & 1982 every home game; 2000 NFC WCG vs. Rams; 2001 (black pants) every home game except vs. Redskins and 49ers; 2002 if you can count this they wore “old gold” jerseys and black pants vs. the Vikings; 2006 vs. Falcons, Bucs and Bengals; 2008 vs. Buccaneers (gold pants), 49ers (black pants), Vikings (black pants), and Raiders (black pants); 2009 vs. Lions, Jets, and Giants (all in gold pants); 2010 vs. Vikings (gold pants), Falcons (black pants), Panthers (gold pants) and Browns (gold pants); 2011 vs. Bears (gold pants) and Colts (black pants)

Seahawks: Never.

Steelers: 1964 vs. Rams; 1966 every home game except vs. Redskins; 1967 every home game except vs. Vikings; 1968 every home game except vs. Saints; 1969 every home game; 2005 SB XL vs. Seahawks.

Texans: 2002 vs. Cowboys, Colts and Bills; 2003 vs. Chiefs, Jaguars and Jets; 2004 vs. Chargers and Raiders; 2005 vs. Steelers, Titans and Browns; 2006 vs. Eagles (white pants), Redskins and Dolphins; 2007 vs. Chiefs (white pants), Dolphins and Titans; 2008 vs. Dolphins, Lions, and Ravens (white pants); 2009 vs. Jets (white pants) and Raiders; 2010 vs. Colts (white pants); 2011 vs. Colts (white pants)

Vikings: 1964 every home game except only in the 1st quarter of their game vs. the Lions.



+ + + + +

If you prefer to see the white-at-home games broken down year by year, instead of team by team, here are the listings for 1964 2009 , and 2010

NOTES:

1) All indications are that no AFL team ever wore white at home (the Broncos wore yellow at home in 1960 and 1961 but wore white jerseys for away games). However, the Raiders wore white at home for a preseason game vs. the Chargers in 1967, and the Chargers and Oilers donned white at home for preseason games in 1968 and 1969.

2) The following teams wore their white jerseys for a whole season (preseason games not included): Browns: 1972 (but wore brown jerseys for division playoff game in Miami), 1973, 1977, 1986, 1995; Buccaneers: 1976; Chargers: 1978, 1982 (but wore blue for a playoff game against the Dolphins), 1983, 1991; Cowboys: 1972; Dolphins: 1977; Oilers: 1998; Rams: 1968, 1969, 1970, 1993; Saints: 1974.

3) There have also been several games with no white jerseys. Here are the instances of color vs. color jerseys since 1957: 1957: Rams (yellow) at 49ers (red), Rams (yellow) at Lions (honolulu blue), Rams (yellow) at Bears (navy); 1994: 49ers (red) at Rams (yellow), Rams (yellow) at Chiefs (red); 2001: Broncos (orange) at Cowboys (blue); 2002: Patriots (red) at Lions (honolulu blue), Redskins (burgundy) at Cowboys (blue); Vikings (purple) at Saints (gold); 2003: Cowboys (blue) at Patriots (silver), Dolphins (aqua) at Patriots (silver); 2004: Bears (orange) at Cowboys (blue), Bengals (black) at Patriots (silver); 2005: Chargers (navy) at Patriots (silver); 2006: Texans (navy) at Patriots (silver); 2007: Bills (dark blue) at Patriots (silver); 2009: Cowboys (blue) at Chiefs (red); and 2010: Patriots (red) at Lions (honolulu blue).

(Many thanks to Kyle Standefer and Kevin Tepley for their generous help.)