Super Bowl 2024: Chiefs to wear red vs. 49ers amid recent run of white jersey Super Bowl domination

| American Football | 01/31/2024
By Nick Bromberg, College football and motorsports writer

A year ago, the Chiefs became the 16th team wearing white to win a Super Bowl since the 2005 season

The Chiefs are not worrying about the recent trend of white jersey Super Bowl domination as they go for back-to-back titles against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII.

A year ago, Kansas City became the 16th team in the last 19 Super Bowls to win while wearing its white jerseys. The Chiefs wore white jerseys and red pants as the road team against the Philadelphia Eagles. As the designated home team, the Eagles had their choice of jerseys and went with their traditional green jerseys and white pants.

Since the AFC and NFC alternate years as the home conferences, the Chiefs are the home team on Feb. 11. And they made it clear on social media Tuesday that they’re sticking with their traditional red home jerseys.

If you think jersey trends are meaningful, you should be inclined to put your money on San Francisco to win its first Super Bowl in 29 years. A San Francisco win would make white jerseys victorious in 17 of the last 20 Super Bowls — an incredible statistical anomaly.

However, the Chiefs are one of the three teams to win a Super Bowl since 2005 wearing a non-white uniform. And that win came against the 49ers. San Francisco wore white as the road team in Super Bowl LIV and the Chiefs came back to win, 31-20.

A season later, the Chiefs wore red again as they got back to the Super Bowl. However, a decimated KC offensive line was run over by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs wore white throughout the entirety of the NFC playoffs that season and chose to continue to wear white despite being the home team in the Super Bowl and playing at their home stadium.

Since the Patriots beat the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX, the only other two teams outside of the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl in their home jerseys are the 2011 Packers and the 2018 Eagles.

White jerseys do well against the spread, too

The white jersey domination also extends past the money line. Teams wearing white in Super Bowls are 13-6 against the spread over the past 19 games. The Chiefs covered as underdogs against the Eagles a season ago, but the Rams failed to cover wearing white in a 23-20 win over the Bengals in 2022. Los Angeles was a 4.5-point favorite playing in its home stadium.

On Feb. 11, the spread may not play much of a role like it did two seasons ago. As of Tuesday morning, the Chiefs are just 1.5-point underdogs to the 49ers. Anything other than a one-point 49ers win would mean the winning team also covered the spread.