The 2025 NFL playoffs will look a lot different from recent years.
With the Kansas City Chiefs failing to qualify, this year marks the first postseason without Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady or Peyton Manning since the 1998 campaign.
Manning reached the playoffs in 1999, while Brady joined the ranks two years later. Mahomes had been in the playoffs each season since 2018, but he tore his ACL in a Week 15 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. The defeat eliminated Kansas City from postseason contention, and the Chiefs finished 6-11.
The three star quarterbacks have combined for a whopping 12 Super Bowl victories. Brady is the only one of the three to face off against both other players in the playoffs — he went 2-3 against Manning and 2-0 against Mahomes, including a win in Super Bowl LV.
Almost 27 years to the day it previously happened, the NFL playoffs kick off on Saturday with a consistent trio missing. Here’s what the world looked like the last time Mahomes, Brady or Manning weren’t in the playoffs — January 1999.
Star quarterbacks in different stages
The aforementioned Mahomes, Brady and Manning were in completely different stages of their careers — and in Mahomes’ case, life. The future Chiefs signal-caller was just three years old in January 1999.
Brady finished his junior year at Michigan with a victory over Arkansas in the Citrus Bowl a day before the NFL playoffs began. He threw for 209 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions, capping off a season with 2,427 passing yards and 14 touchdowns. He would play one more campaign in Ann Arbor before famously being picked in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft.
Manning concluded a rookie year when he was on the wrong side of history. Alongside 3,739 passing yards and 26 touchdowns, he threw a league-high 28 interceptions — still the most ever by any rookie quarterback in a season. The Indianapolis Colts went 3-13, but Manning would bounce back with a sophomore year that put him third in MVP voting and earn his first Pro Bowl appearance.
Elsewhere in the NFL world, the Denver Broncos won their second consecutive Super Bowl as Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway rode off into the sunset. Two future Hall of Famers won Rookie of the Year awards — Randy Moss for offense and Charles Woodson for defense. The Philadelphia Eagles went 3-13, firing head coach Ray Rhodes and hiring Andy Reid.
NBA stuck in a lockout
Remarkably, the 1998-99 NBA season didn’t begin until five days after Super Bowl XXXIII — Feb. 5, 1999. The league endured a lockout that lasted three months and cut the 82-game schedule to 50. It marked the first time in league history that games were canceled due to labor issues.
The San Antonio Spurs ended up winning the championship after defeating the New York Knicks, jump-starting a dynasty that resulted in five titles. Spurs center Tim Duncan won NBA Finals MVP after averaging 27.4 points and 14 rebounds.
‘Titanic’ coming off dominant year
The year 1998 had its fair share of strong movie releases, but none came to have box-office success on the level of “Titanic.”
Released in December 1997, the film grossed over $600 million in 1998. It remained the highest-grossing film until “Avatar” in 2009 and eventually exceeded a lifetime gross of $2 billion.
“Titanic” received 14 nominations at the 70th Academy Awards, tied for the most all time, and won 11 of those awards, including Best Picture and Director. It remains the only film to win 11 Oscars.
The MLB team of the late 1990s won its second World Series of the decade in 1998 and first of a three-peat.
New York went 114-48 in 1998, its most wins for a season in franchise history, before going 11-2 in the postseason and sweeping the San Diego Padres for the championship. Yankees’ Scott Brosius won the World Series MVP after batting .471, third highest of any player with at least 10 at bats, plus contributing two home runs and six RBIs.
New York would go on to win two consecutive World Series titles, with 2000 marking its fourth in five years. The Yankees were on the brink of a fourth straight championship but fell to the Miami Marlins in seven games in 2001.
‘The Sopranos’ nearing its debut
One of the most influential TV shows of all time reached HBO on Jan. 10, 1999. Following New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano, it became an instant hit and Season 1 holds a 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The first season won five Golden Globes, including Best TV Series — Drama and Best Actor in a TV Series — Drama to James Gandolfini. At the Primetime Emmys, it had 16 nominations and won four of them.
Overall, the series received 312 nominations and 127 wins total across six seasons.
