The Pittsburgh Steelers seemed to have one clear agenda against the Cleveland Browns in Week 17: stop Myles Garrett from getting a sack, at all costs. Garrett entered the game with 22.0 sacks, and with a single sack, he would take claim of the single-season record, one currently held by T.J. Watt and Michael Strahan.
Unfortunately, Mike Tomlin's hyper-focused game plan to stop Garrett saw the Steelers missing the forest for the trees.
The Steelers chipped or doubled Garrett on nearly every pass rush rep in the game. Meanwhile, quarterback Aaron Rodgers made it a point to get rid of the ball before the Cleveland Browns star could get home for a sack.
Unfortunately, this made for a game plan with incredibly low upside in the passing game—one that would be largely responsible for the Week 17 13-6 upset loss to the Browns.
Mike Tomlin should be under fire for the egregious Myles Garrett-focused game plan in the Pittsburgh Steelers' loss against the Browns
Make no mistake, it's important to stop the opposing team's best player—and Myles Garrett is unquestionably one of the best defensive players in the game. But when you're determined not allow Garrett to get a sack at the cost of a low-upside offense, this is not a good trade-off.
Because Rodgers got rid of the ball so quickly, the Steelers found virtually no success through the air. By the end of the game, the 42-year-old quarterback finished with just 168 yards on 39 pass attempts (4.3 yards per attempt) and a64.9 passer rating.
The Steelers scored just six points through the first three quarters of the game, rarely crossing midfield. This was an egregious performance in a must-have game against an inferior opponent that held a 3-12 record entering Week 17.
There's no question Coach Tomlin was trying to do T.J. Watt a solid by preventing Myles Garrett from breaking his single-season sack record. However, this not only came at the cost of losing the game, but it could also come at the cost of missing the playoffs entirely.
With the loss against the Browns, the Pittsburgh Steelers need a win on the road against the Baltimore Ravens in the season finale next week to get into the postseason. The Steelers prevented Myles Garrett from getting his record-breaking sack, but Tomlin's game plan hyper-focused on the Browns' All-Pro defender may have cost the Steelers a win.