“Not bad. Not good. Lions new helmet sits somewhere in the middle.” – Terry Foster

I don’t love it.

I don’t hate it.

I sit somewhere in between on the alternate Lions helmet design released by the team Wednesday afternoon.

I like that the team incorporated the old school look of the racing stripes that used to be on the helmet and was the dominate piece of art on the old Lions headquarters on Michigan Avenue near Tiger Stadium.

I like the darker blue matte on the helmet. I like most of the elements of the helmet, but it just doesn’t seem to be as sweet as the Lions players said it was during a video release from the team.

“I like it,” Lions Coach Dan Campbell said. “That’s going to be pretty sharp.”

Said defensive end Aidan Hutchinson: “This thing is so clean. So sleek.”

I will eventually come around.

The helmet is growing on me and it looked a lot better when Hutchinson modeled it.

“We looked at the shells for a couple weeks, the metallic and matte shells, but knowing we were going to wear this on the field during our 90th season, with the essence of our 90th season campaign really celebrating the past, present and future, merging them together, not wanting to put all of our focus on history at this pivotal,” Emily Griffin, vice president of marketing and brand told The Detroit News, “It’s something we’ve never done with something that’s classic. It met that theme.”

It doesn’t matter if I like it or not. The most important thing is the Lions are trying something new. This move reminds me of the old Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a franchise that could not get out of its way until changing its color scheme from ugly orange to pewter.

That’s when the Bucs, a team that once lost 27 games in a row, became a real football franchise. The Lions are doing the same, transitioning from a fake franchise into a real team. Maybe we will talk about the uniform change due in 2024 and the alternative helmet this season.

“This looks better in person,” Amon-Ra St. Brown said. “I promise. You’ve got to see it.”

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For more from the author Terry Foster, check him out on Twitter here: @terryfosterdet

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