Super Bowl Record by Jersey Color: How often has the team wearing white won?

Colors have been a topic of conversation during the 2023 NFL season. Conspiracy theorists spent the last few weeks obsessing over the Super Bowl logo color scheme conspiracy. It first made headlines in November when a fan noticed that the past two Super Bowl logos were designed with colors similar to the teams that competed in the championship game. That was, of course, purely a coincidence.

When it comes to the Super Bowl, color has always been a big deal: the sterling silver shine of the Lombardi Trophy, the neon splash of a victorious Gatorade bath, the glory of franchise-colored confetti.

NFL uniforms use the franchise's primary color for home jerseys and white for away jerseys to ensure contrast during games. While the Super Bowl is played on a neutral site, the two conference representatives are still designated as home and away teams. The NFL alternates the home team between the two conferences each season. The NFC is the home team in even-numbered seasons, while the AFC is the home team in odd-numbered seasons. Last year, the NFC's Philadelphia Eagles were the home team. As a result, the Kansas City Chiefs will be the home team in Super Bowl LVIII.

While the designated away team gets to call the opening coin toss, the home team gets to decide which color jerseys they want to wear for the game. Although the designated home team will usually elect to wear their home jerseys in the Super Bowl, that's not always the case.

Super Bowl record by jersey color: How well have teams done in white jerseys?

There's a ton of superstition that surrounds jersey colors in the Super Bowl — and teams buy into it. Even the 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers elected to wear their white road jerseys in Super Bowl LV, despite being the first team to play a Super Bowl in their home stadium.

Home-field advantage can significantly benefit teams during the season, but home jerseys have not fared well on the neutral Super Bowl field.

Through 57 Super Bowls, teams wearing white jerseys have hoisted the Lombardi Trophy 37 times.

The color of the jersey was mostly insignificant prior to the 2004 NFL season. Since then, teams wearing white jerseys have seen a staggering amount of success. In the past 19 Super Bowls, the team in white has a 16-3 record in the Super Bowl. The three teams that lost in white jerseys were the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV, the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII and the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV.

The 2004 Patriots, who wore white jerseys in their Super Bowl win against the Philadelphia Eagles, started a six-game winning streak for white jerseys. A team didn't win the Super Bowl in non-white jerseys until the 2011 NFL season, when the Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers. Then, the white jerseys enjoyed another six-game winning streak until the 2017 season, when the Eagles avenged their loss against the Patriots.

Only 20 Super Bowl winners wore non-white jerseys. The longest winning streak lasted just three seasons, from 2001 to 2003, when New England and Tampa Bay won in their traditional home uniforms. Since then, just three teams have won the Super Bowl in their home jerseys: the Packers (XLV), Eagles (LII), and Chiefs (LIV).

The Kansas City Chiefs don't seem to care about superstitions. Despite the history, they'll be donning their classic red home jerseys. Who can blame them? After all. it worked out when they faced the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV — a 31-20 victory for Kansas City.