POP QUIZ! Can You Name All Ten Of These Old School NFL Logos?
Pop quiz time! Think you know ball? What about old ball? You'll soon see after taking this 10 question quiz on old NFL team logos.
I got this idea in the stats lab while procuring data for the NFL season with very heavy usage of my favorite website - Profootball Reference. I can't wait to put finger to keyboard every week of the season for a third year in a row in search of the saddest and often most obscure stats to help sad fans laugh instead of cry at their shitty teams. And this year I've prepped scraping so much more data than I had before to have at the ready to fulfill this much needed gap in the sports content market. Every single table and pertinent piece of info that exists on every game page in NFL history is neatly tucked away ready to be queried.
In doing so, I couldn't help but notice some hilarious old team logos on old PFR game pages. It's amazing to think our grandfathers and great grandfathers probably thought these were super sick. So let's see how many logos you can guess correctly out of ten. Hint - these are all active franchises. We're sticking with the 101 course here. I'll save the Oorang Indians and Dayton Triangles for a 401 level pop quiz later.
Self scoring now everyone. Let me know how you do. Scouts honor. Answers are in tiny print written backwards for those (like me) who's brain just can't not look right at it. We'll start with some softballs which and continue with some more softballs that lend themselves to some jokes. But we'll end with a few hard balls.
Grab your pencils.
Logo #1:
Answer: sraeb ogacihc
I pulled this from the 1940 team. What were we doing here, George Halas? This bear looks like it's falling out of a tree and about to land. Just look at the pidgeon-toed feet and the awkward arm posture. He looks like Mike Pantazis - the Bears fan from the 90s who jumped out of the stands over the tunnel to catch the ball kicked for an extra point. And what's with the face? Like he knows he's about to land and it's not going to feel good and he knows he can't do anything about it.
Logo #2:
Answer: snoil tiorted
Whoever drew this logo has clearly been misinformed about how how big lions actually are. Probably the same guy that drew all the old school world maps with Africa smaller than the USA we were brainwashed with in grade school. Also can we all pitch in a little to buy this poor lion a meal? Buddy hasn't eaten in weeks. Not exactly the most intimidating lion photo I've ever seen. That thing would have it's work cut out for it in a battle to the death with an ROUS from Princess Bride. Probably a mere -115 favorite.
One last thing. Is the guy supposed to be riding the anorexic lion? I can't really figure this out. I think maybe he's really just running behind the lion from the viewer's perspective waiting for it to set up a block. Opinions welcomed.
Advertisement
Logo #3:
Answer: snworb dnalevelc
I think what we're learning here is that NFL logos were so bad back in the 40s and 50s that they literally had to insert a football in them in order for anyone to have a clue what was going on. We all recognize Brownie the elf who has made his way onto the Browns football field last season.
Logo #4
Answer: stloc eromitlab
Again with the football. There must ALWAYS be a football. And can someone explain to me what is going on? At first I thought the colt was holding the ball for himself to kick, but the head jerking down to cause the helmet to stay momentarily elevated isn't really a move a colt would typically make when kicking a football he was holding. Instead, I think he caught a ball while jumping up in the air and overjumped and had to duck his head to make the catch. However, I have no idea how he would have landed without ending up taking a trip to the glue factory the next day.
Logo # 5
Advertisement
Answer: sreenaccub yab apmat
I know all these have been pretty easy so far but hopefully we're still having fun. The creamsicle Buccaneer is a cult classic in the NFL logo department that isn't used enough as a throwback alternative uniform. So maybe there's young Gen Z's out there who don't know this logo is the face of a franchise that started 0-26. The OG "Orange Man Bad". Maybe they would have been a better team if the logo had a football.
Logo #6
Answer: sllib olaffub
I can comfortably say this is the saddest looking picture of a buffalo I've ever seen. Look at him. Standing there all alone staring down with his tail cowering to the side. There's nothing in his soulless eyes. You can literally stare right through them. He has nothing to do. He has no friends. And zero females vying for his attention. And I think we can all see why. This poor guy is hung like a hampster.
OK, warmups are over. Let's get to some that might actually be challenging.
Logo #7
Answer: stnaig kroy wen
The obvious hint of a guy being so giant that he takes up the entire stadium was almost lost on me due to the prior mentioned logo proportion fails. But add the fact that it's blue and that should be enough to get you to the answer.
Logo #8
Advertisement
Answer: sreleets hgrubsttip
See how much happier logos are with a football? Can we hook a bison up? Just look at Mario kicking field goals on a steel beam wearing the hat that Indiana Jones' dad wears in the Last Crusade. I know it's supposed to be a hard hat, but come on. That's a fedora.
Still perfect? 8/8? Well, what say you to this?
Logo #9
Answer: sreleets hgrubsttip
Little bit of a trick there to double right back. But props to any who knew this as I sure as hell would never have guessed it. I didn't do any further research to explain what's going on here, but the 1940 Steelers sure seemed to support their men in blue. Have to imagine the three emblems represent the three rivers? What's with the castle though? You know those are all made of stone, right? I think that's what really threw me off.
Logo #10
Answer: sre94 ocsicnarf nas
Saved the best for last. Just an all time logo and, if I'm being honest, the reason I thought of doing this blog in the first place. Don't lie now - you guessed Cowboys even though you couldn't figure out why the lunatic gunslinger was wearing red. But this guy is amazing. Who do I need to contact to get him painted at midfield in Santa Clara? I'm OK if they don't want the gun shown for PC reasons. Airbrush it out and it'll look like this guy just got propelled off his feet after blowing the worlds biggest fart. Remember Horace and Jasper from 101 Dalmations? You can't tell me this guy isn't their other brother who wasn't bright enough to join their band of criminals who got outsmarted by a stray cat.
The best part of this logo is it's probably a fairly accurate portrayal of prospectors back during the gold rush. Very few actually found shit and the rest were left pissed off shooting their guns and drinking a bottle a liquor which is my best guess as to what he's holding in his left hand. As for his decision on pants? I have no answers. Zero.
Advertisement
OK. Pop quiz over. How'd you do? Remember. Just like in school. It's not about what you learn. It's about the laughs you make along the way.