The historical NFL helmets illustrated on the various pages for each division are based very heavily on information derived from one particular web site, Mike Stanhope's NFL Helmet page. The dates of use for each helmet and the accompanying comments are also derived primarily from this source, which appears to have been very carefully researched and which I believe to be highly accurate. As with the colleges, I am only going back to 1960 for the present time, due primarily to the substantially different facemask shapes in use prior to then (I don't have an appropriate "template" on which to base representations of helmets from that era). Helmets for teams that have changed names or have been relocated are placed in the section for the franchise's current name (i.e, the Houston Oilers helmets are placed in the Tennessee Titans section on the AFC South page), with the exception of the Cleveland Browns.

In 1994, as part of the NFL's celebration of its 75th anniversary, most teams wore for at least a few games uniforms and helmets designed to resemble those from some earlier year in the team's history. While some teams wore the "throwback" uniforms for only a few games, others used them for most of the season, but I do not have information about for which specific games the special helmets were used. The helmet illustrations for these 1994 helmets are labelled as "1994 special" on the various pages. An interesting web site about these 1994 helmets can be found here.

Please click on the links below to see the page for each division.

NFL History

The links below will open new browser windows presenting lists of NFL Super Bowl, Conference, and Divisional champions in "Helmet Project" format. The Super Bowl and Conference champions are listed since the first Super Bowl game; the Divisional champions are listed back to 1970, the first year of the NFL's six-division format and of the AFL-NFL merger. The years listed refer to the football season in question, rather than the dates when the championship game was played (for example, "2007" is listed for the New York Giants' recent Super Bowl victory (played in 2008), which occurred at the end of the 2007 football season).

After careful consideration, I elected to display the current helmet for each team on these pages, rather than the one used by the team during the year listed, to more clearly illustrate the ebb and flow of power among the teams through the years. The use of multiple helmets for each team in such a display would interfere with the eye's ability to grasp the underlying patterns, such as the prolonged dominance of a small number of teams in the 1970s, and the emergence of great parity since about 1990. Besides, you can always see what helmet design team X wore in year XXXX on the divisional pages at the links further up on this page.

The Pro Bowl

At the end of each NFL season since 1939, the league has held an exhibition game featuring the players deemed to have excelled during the previous season. Prior to 1971, the Pro Bowl was a game between teams representing the league's Eastern and Western Conferences; since 1971, the teams have represented the American Conference and the National Conference.

From 1980 to present, the players selected for the Pro Bowl game have worn the helmets of their respective NFL teams during the game, but prior to 1980, a helmet design was used by all players on each team. Five pairs of helmet designs are reported to have been used during the period 1960 through 1979; the only descriptions of these designs that I have seen is that at the Mike Stanhope helmet site mentioned in the first paragraph on this page. I am interested in adding to this page representations of the helmet designs used during the Pro Bowl games played from 1960 through 1979, and below I have created "slots" representing each alleged pair of designs, along with their alleged dates of use (based on the information at the Stanhope site). The descriptions that follow are based on those of Stanhope. Photographs of any of the "missing" helmets would be greatly appreciated.

c.1950s - 1964

Eastern Conference	Western Conference

1965 - 1969

Eastern Conference	Western Conference

The Stanhope site indicates that the Western Conference was using silver helmets during these years, but I have received photographs from the 1966, 1967, and 1970 Pro Bowl Games showing quite clearly that both teams were using gold helmets - perhaps silver helmets were used in some other year?

1970

Eastern Conference	Western Conference

The logo worn on these helmets commemorated the NFL's 50th anniversary.

1971 - 1977

American Conference	National Conference

AFC used red helmets with a white "A" logo.

1978 - 1979

American Conference	National Conference

This pair of helmets are described at the Stanhope site as being similar to those used from 1971 through 1977, but without the stripes. A conflicting description of these helmets indicates that the logos were slightly different - the "N" supposedly included three white stars, and the "A" was flanked by six red stars. Unfortunately I have no photographs from the 1978 or 1979 Pro Bowl games.