Then and now: How NFL cheerleader uniforms have changed through the decades

God bless ‘em.

AS AMERICAN FOOTBALL has changed and evolved through the years, so have the cheerleaders.

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, cheerleaders stuck to leading the crowd and cheering on their teams with big poofy pom-poms.

Now, a lot of cheerleading squads have added on a dance element as well, and their outfits have gotten a lot … flashier.

This season, the Eagles cheerleaders debuted brand new, very skimpy, uniforms designed by Vera Wang.

The trend of smaller and tighter seems to still be going strong.

The Baltimore Colts had cheerleaders in the early '60s
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Today, the Indianapolis Colts cheerleaders look like this.
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Vikings cheerleaders take a break back in the '60s.
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The Vikings cheerleaders pose for the crowd today.
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Green Bay's cheerleaders celebrate in 1978.
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Source: The squad was eliminated 10 years later.
The Denver Broncos cheerleaders at the end of the '70s.
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Source: Yes that's Robin Williams running out with them.
The Broncos cheerleaders nowadays.
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Here are the NY Jets cheer squad from the '70s.
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And today's vintage.
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The Eagles cheerleaders wore leotards and had big pompoms in the late '80s.
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Now, the Eagles uniforms are brand new, designed by Vera Wang.
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The 49ers sported leotards in the '80s too.
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Now, they go for the two-piece as well.
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The most famous of all, Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders in the '70s.
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Today's version is quite similar.
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Around 1980, the Cincinnati Bengals cheerleaders wore this.
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Today, the Ben-Gals closer resemble the other teams.
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But the Raiders (Los Angeles then, Oakland now) win for having the most similar uniforms from the '80s to now ...
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... they look almost exactly the same!
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All images by Press Association.

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