CHICAGO BEARS	DETROIT LIONS	GREEN BAY PACKERS

MINNESOTA VIKINGS

Historical Helmets

CHICAGO BEARS

c.1940s - 1961; September 27, 2010; November 14, 2010	1962 - 1972	1973 - 1981
*see note 1 below

1994 special	November 25, 2004	1982 -

*1 This helmet design was brought back for use during the 2010 home games against Green Bay and Minnesota.

DETROIT LIONS

c.1952 - 1960	1961 - 1967	1968 - October 11, 1970

October 18, 1970 - 1982	1994 special; November 22, 2001; November 28, 2002	1983 - 2002
	*see note 1 below

November 27, 2003; additional games 2004 -	2003 - 2008	2009 -
*see note 2 below

*1 This helmet design was used during home games against Green Bay and New England in 2001 and 2002 respectively, in addition to an unknown number of games in 1994.

*2 This design was used November 27, 2003 (vs Green Bay), November 25, 2004 (vs Indianapolis), November 9, 2008 (vs Jacksonville), November 27, 2008 (vs Tennessee), and possibly during other games when its use was not reported to this web site. It has been reported to me that this design was NOT in use during the Lions Thanksgiving Day games from 2005 through 2007, as I had speculated here earlier.

GREEN BAY PACKERS

1959 - 1960	1961 - 1979; November 27, 2003	1994 special
	*see note 1 below

November 22, 2001	December 5, 2010; October 16, 2011	1980 -
*see note 2 below	*see note 3 below

I have seen at least one photograph showing the Packers wearing yellow facemasks in the 1961 NFL championship game, but the apparent consensus among most visitors to this web site is that this photograph had been artificially colored. I now suspect that this is the case, because no other photographs have surfaced from either this game or any other during the 1961-1962 season showing yellow facemasks, and because facemasks of any color other than gray or white were very rare during this era.

The size of the helmet decal has apparently decreased somewhat through the years, and their have also been some minor changes to the shape of the "G" and the oval within which it is contained.

*1 This helmet design was resurrected for the Packers' Thanksgiving Day 2003 game at Detroit.

*2 This design was used for the Packers' Thanksgiving Day 2001 game at Detroit.

*3 During the Packers 2010 home game against San Francisco the team wore uniforms based upon those worn by the 1929 Packers team, which won the franchise's first NFL championship. Plain brown helmets were worn during this game to approximate the color of the leather helmets used by the 1929 team. This design was again used during the 2011 home game against the St Louis Rams.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS

1961 - 1979; September 30, 2007; additional games 2008 -	1980 - 1984	1985 - 2005
*see note 1 below

2006 -

The "Viking horn" decal was apparently slightly larger prior to about 1980 than it has been since then; I suspect that there have been some very minor changes to its shape through the years, also. The most substantial change was the slight modernization made for the 2006 season.

*1 This design was used as a "throwback" helmet for games played September 30, 2007 (vs Green Bay), November 30, 2008 (vs Chicago), October 5, 2009 (vs Green Bay), November 29, 2009 (vs Chicago), September 19, 2010 (vs Miami), December 20, 2010 (vs Chicago), September 25, 2011 (vs Detroit), and October 23, 2011 (vs Green Bay) - all home games for the Vikings.