The Pittsburgh Steelers had one of the most disappointing offensive showings of the 2025 season in a game where they could have officially won the AFC North. They fell to the Cleveland Browns by a final score of 13-6 in an abysmal contest that caused them to get laughed at afterwards by a defensive star of the now-four-win team. The Steelers now have to bounce back and get back into form for a showdown with the Baltimore Ravens for a battle that will essentially be a playoff game to decide the division.
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Browns Head Coach Kevin Stefanski greets Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin near midfield after their teams played one another in a professional football game in Cleveland, OH.
During his post-game press conference, Browns' star defensive end Myles Garrett gave his thoughts on what happened in that game and why the offense was so sloppy for the Steelers.
"To an extent, they were more worried about keeping me away from Aaron [Rodgers] than getting the win, and I think that’s what came back to bite them," Garrett said. "They'll have to fight it out with Baltimore next week, but I'm just proud of the guys for fighting and getting this win. That's the main thing."
According to Garrett, Head Coach Mike Tomlin did not get the memo of what "the main thing" is supposed to be. He believes that everyone was built around making sure he didn't get to bring down quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and they succeeded on that front, as the Browns star had only one tackle and one quarterback hit all game long. The Steelers got the moral victory, while Cleveland got the real, tangible win.
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Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett (#95) rushes the passer during a game against the Indianapolis Colts in Cleveland.
Tomlin claimed that that was not the case in his own post-game press conference, but actions speak louder than words. So many decisions felt like they were made specifically to keep Garrett from getting a sack, like when the offense ran the ball on their first three plays, leading to a three-and-out to allow the Browns to build up some sort of a lead. That was just the beginning.
Rodgers averaged eight yards per completion and 4.3 yards per attempt in the game, as he was throwing check-downs for most of the contest. A couple of deep balls to tight end Pat Freiermuth on the final drive helped to boost those stats, even though nearly every completion was underneath. The game plan was to get the ball out quickly no matter what, most likely so Garrett could not get his big sack.
If Garrett is actually right, then the game plan came from pure pettiness from Tomlin. His star edge rusher, TJ Watt, is tied for the single-season record for most sacks at 22.5, and Garrett is at 22.0. The Steelers seemed to just want to make sure that Watt still held that record, and they especially did not want their rival to break his record against them. They accomplished that goal, but they did not get the win.
Steelers' Loss Exposes Major Organizational Issues
Would Garrett breaking the sack record be unfortunate? Yes. Would his gloating be annoying? Absolutely. However, that should not be priority number one. The main thing, as the edge rusher said, is to win. He can celebrate his sack record all he wants while the Steelers go to the playoffs and try to compete for a Super Bowl, but that doesn't seem to be where the priorities were.
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Steelers' TJ Watt chats with Browns' Myles Garrett after game.
The Steelers are now in a weird situation of being home underdogs against the Ravens in what will be for the AFC North division. It's truly unfortunate that from the outside looking in, Pittsburgh had more pride is not allowing a sack record to be broken compared to moving on into the postseason.
What do you think about Garrett exposing the Steelers despite not getting his big sack? Let us know in the comments or on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.
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