Steelers fans wince as Myles Garrett passes T.J. Watt historically

The Pittsburgh Steelers entered today's game with one thing on their mind: taking care of business against the Baltimore Ravens. After squandering a golden opportunity against the Cleveland Browns, the pressure is on Mike Tomlin's team to come away with a win on Sunday Night Football to lock up a playoff spot.

But there was another quiet storyline at play between lesser AFC North rivals that have long been eliminated from playoff contention—and one with historic implications on the line.

After a phenomenal 2025 season, Myles Garrett was nipping at the heels of T.J. Watt's single-season sack record (shared with Hall of Famer Michael Strahan). Garrett recorded a whopping 17.0 sacks since Week 8. The superstar was held without a sack in the Browns' upset win over the Steelers in Week 17. But the league's best pass rusher was hungry to make history.

Sadly, Steelers fans just witnessed the ultimate gut punch ahead of Sunday Night Football.

Against Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals, Garrett earned his record-setting sack with just minutes remaining in the fourth quarter—poaching this title from Watt (who held the single-season sack record for just four years).

This shouldn't come as a total surprise. Garrett is a generational pass rusher who is somehow playing the best football of his career in his ninth NFL season. With his sack in the Week 18 season finale, Garrett officially holds the all-time single-season record.

Pittsburgh Steelers fans should give Myles Garrett his flowers for breaking T.J. Watt's sack record

Watching Myles Garrett cruise past T.J. Watt's career sack total this season was hard enough. But it adds insult to injury to watch him shatter the Steelers star's historic season. And the worst part is that this is a record Watt will never get back.

As Garrett continues to show off his dominance in 2025, Watt was underwhelming this season before the wild incident in the team facility that resulted in a punctured lung.

Steelers fans have always had a grudge against Garrett, and the rivalry was easy to spot. Watt and Garrett game into the league together as first-round picks of the 2017 NFL Draft. Until recently, the debate has raged on.

There's also some bad blood between Steelers fans and Garrett—stemming from Garrett's decision to his quarterback, Mason Rudolph with his own helmet back in November of 2019. Garrett has since apologized and would like to forget the incident ever happened.

Regardless, it's okay as Steelers fans to give credit where it's due: Myles Garrett deserved the single-season sack record. We are watching one of the best pass rushers in the history of the game at the peak of his career. And there's only so much Garrett can do as one of 53 players on an otherwise disastrous Cleveland Browns franchise.

Of course, we all wanted T.J. Watt to hold onto his record, but Garrett was simply too good to prevent this from happening.