Bengals

1968-80

The 1968-79 Bengals helmet is available in the Throwback Series 1, Throwback AFC 1969 2-bar, and Throwback 2-bar sets. In 1980, the facemask was changed to black. This helmet with the black facemask is only available in the Throwback Series 2 set. The Bengals wore the 1980 helmet with the black facemask as a throwback in 1994.

The 1969 2-bar throwback helmet has the Riddell logo in all caps (RIDDELL). The regular Throwback 2-bar helmet has some cursive font (RIDDell). See the Throwback NFC 1969 site for more information.

1981-present

I have seen multiple references to different striping patters of the 1981 to present helmet. According to a 2009 Bengals media guide, the helmet was “unchanged” between 1981 and at least 2009.

The Bengals helmet looks unchanged in the Gridiron Uniform Database between 1981 and 2011, with a change in the striping pattern in 2012. The 2012 change cited by the Gridiron Uniform Database is consistent with the pocket pro striping pattern, which is different in the speed and revolution sets from the traditional style helmets.

This updated style is available in the Traditional, Revolution, and Speed sets. There are slight differences in the striping patterns of the helmets.

1981-2011