CINCINNATI — Myles Garrett had a dream the night before Sunday’s 20-18 victory over the Bengals in the season finale that he failed to get the one sack needed to set the NFL single-season record with 23.0. It rattled this big, strapping man to the core.
Actually, it was more like a nightmare — and it almost came true.
With the clock dangerously ticking down at the end of the game, Garrett had to prevent the frightening, realistic vision that played out in his head the night before from happening.
“I had a dream that I didn’t get it,” he said after the Browns beat the Bengals 20-18 on a walkoff 49-yard Andre Szmyt field goal. “So I was like, well, (expletive), we’ve got to deny fate, whatever it is, we’ve got to make it happen. And I just went into it and still had the utmost confidence in myself and my preparation and in my guys, man.
“I couldn’t do it without them. They were supporting me, trying to find ways to free me up, get the chips off me, get the doubles off. And eventually we just made it happen as we have all year.”
Playing almost every snap and not taking a breather until late in the third quarter, Garrett didn’t let himself think about being gassed.
“Anytime I thought about thinking I was tired or the fatigue setting in, I thought about that dream,” Garrett said. “I picked my (expletive) up. It was time to go.”
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How did it feel in the dream when he didn’t get the sack? “Despair,” he said. “I was scared as hell. Shoot, I woke up at 6:30 or 7, and I was like, I told my guy, John (his friend and physical therapist), I was like, ‘Let’s eat, let’s talk.’ But we’ve got to talk through this and just prepare early, because there’s no way we’re going to allow anything in the way of history.”
Finally, with 5:04 left in the game, Garrett, left in a rare one-on-one matchup with left tackle Orlando Brown, chopped and ducked his way around the 6-foot-8, 350-pound man and sent Joe Burrow to the ground for a 5-yard loss.
He raised his fists into the air and then drew his hands together in prayer.
It broke the record of 22.5 sacks set by Michael Strahan in 2001 (in 16 games) and tied by T.J. Watt (in 15 games) in 2021.
The officials stopped the game for about 32 seconds as a Garrett sack-palooza broke out. His teammates hoisted him onto their shoulders, and David Njoku placed an imaginary crown on his head.
His parents, Audrey and Lawrence, ran down from their seats, kissed, and hugged him. Lawrence shot photos with a professional-style camera lens as big as his head, and Garrett joked, “I told him he’s got to stop bringing that thing, but that means a lot that they could be here.”
Chants of “Myles Garrett! Myles Garrett!” reverberated through Paycor Field from the Browns fans in attendance.
Back home in Cleveland, the Cavaliers—of which Garrett is a minority owner—played Garrett’s historic sack on the Jumbotron.
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About the only person who didn’t appreciate the celebration was Bengals coach Zac Taylor, whose team trailed 17-12 at the time of the sack and was driving.
It happened on a first-and-10 from the Browns 45, and three plays later, they punted.
“There’s five minutes left in our season, we’re playing for our lives here, and I was never told we were going to stop the game, and in a critical moment like that. The refs just said they made a decision they were going to stop the game. They said they tried to do it as quickly as possible. I didn’t feel that way.
“We didn’t sub, we were trying to be on the ball and go and play with tempo, and the umpire just held the ball so we couldn’t do anything. I’m yelling at Joe (Burrow), ‘Get on the ball, we didn’t sub, we’re going!’ And we couldn’t play.”
The Bengals took an 18-17 lead with 1:29 left on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Burrow to Ja’Marr Chase, and the Shedeur Sanders did his part.
Taking over at his 29 with 1:29 left and two timeouts remaining, Sanders led the Browns to the Cincinnati 31, where Andre Szmyt kicked the game-winning 49-yard field goal as time expired.
Garrett wanted the record in a victory—and he got it. The Browns finished the season at 5-12.
“Once we got in field goal range, I knew he was going to seal it,” Garrett said. “This is the moment that he’s been waiting for. Do it against the team that he unfortunately came up a little bit short at the beginning of the year. I know he’s been waiting at the second crack at this, and God willing, he went out there and put it right down the middle.
“So I was excited. I love winning, so it doesn’t matter whether it’s beginning of the season, end of the season, last game of the season, you know, I’m just proud of him and glad to have a win.”
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In the locker room after the game, a raucous celebration broke out. The players and coaches cheered, yelled, sang, blared music, and sprayed water around the room.
When Kevin Stefanski showed up for this post-game press conference, his sweatshirt was soaked.
“It was special,” Garrett said of the celebrations. “I’ve given everything to them. They get my very best every day and I’m so grateful and so glad to have them as teammates.
“Like I said, it’s a privilege to be with these guys, to go to work with these guys, to bleed, to sweat and to go out with these guys.
“Man, I couldn’t imagine doing it with a better group of men. Always coming in with a great attitude, working hard and coming in with a smile on their faces, and they’re never too high, never too low. I’m so proud of this group.”
With Garrett doubled and chipped all game, defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz moved him all around and even used him as a middle linebacker at times to get the bodies off him.
Nothing worked until Taylor left him one-on-one with Brown at the end.
“I felt like Micah out there,” he said, “started moving around everywhere. And they were just scheming it up, trying to get the chips and the doubles off me.
“I know he said he wasn’t going to do anything crazy to deny me this act but, hell, they schemed it up to the point where it was starting to feel like that.
“But I mean, he went out there, tried to win the game and we made the plays that we needed to.
“But credit to Schwartz, he was doing everything he could to get not only myself free, but all of us free. And Grant (Delpit) came in with the sack a little bit earlier. And then we just kept on getting pressure, and those batted balls came in clutch at the beginning of the game.”
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The defense did its part all game, including scoring back-to-back defensive touchdowns: a 97-yard Devin Bush interception return off a Shelby Harris batted ball, and a Sam Webb 47-yard fumble return for a touchdown in the first half for a 14-6 lead.
“Obviously that fourth quarter started, I was like, ‘All right, like, you know, we gotta make something shake,’” Harris said. “But I think you can just tell from the reaction of everybody on the team how much Myles is loved.
“And it’s just a genuine happiness and excitement for him to be immortalized in the history books forever.”
Garrett almost got to Burrow in the third quarter, but he scrambled away from him, looking back at Garrett as he ran for his life.
“That (expletive) was disrespectful,” Garrett said with a laugh. “He knew who was chasing him.
“But I think credit to him, he’s got wheels. Anytime he’s healthy, he’s a threat to scramble out the pocket and I was just like, ‘Please, somebody just pull him up.’ Or stay behind the line, do something, run out of bounds.
“But I’m glad to go against a competitor like that.”
With so much commotion, Garrett was unable to talk to Burrow—whom he’s now sacked 12 times in 10 meetings for most of any quarterback—but he will reach out soon.
“Got a lot of love for Joe,” he said. “He’s a hell of a guy, hell of a player, and I hope to catch up with him this offseason.
“He sent me a text, and I’ll keep what he said between him and me, but no, he’s exceptional all around.”
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Garrett described his record-setting sack as a “stereotypical sack” for him. He had a get-off of 0.23 seconds—an ironic number for sack No. 23—which blew away his league-leading average of 0.70 seconds.
It was also the fastest in the NFL this season, according to Next Gen Stats.
“(It was) getting off, doing the chop and then right into the dip. I was watching the clock.
“I knew that the next time he gave a count, it was going to be, they were going. So I was just watching the ball as quick as I could.
“They had a couple other tells that gave me the snap count. So as soon as I saw that it aligned, probably the best get-off I’ve ever had. Then trying to get that sack—the rest of history.”
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With Stefanski in jeopardy of being fired on Monday, Garrett was vague when asked about the widespread reports.
On Friday, he declined to endorse him, saying he’s had “more downs than ups” in his six seasons with him.
He also effusively praised Schwartz, who could be a candidate to replace Stefanski.
“Got to be the same person every single day,” Garrett said. “Come with that same intensity.
“No matter the result, the outcome, you do this for the journey.
“There’s suffering in the journey, there’s failures in the journey, but that’s the price we pay for giving everything that we have.
“No one’s going to win the Super Bowl every year. No one’s going to go to the playoffs every year.
“That’s the kind of momentum we need to carry into the next season.
“We need to appreciate and be grateful for the guys that we have around us and look forward.”
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Garrett strolled into his postgame press conference playing Kanye West’s *I Wonder*, which contains the lyric, “Your Dream Come True.”
Fortunately for Garrett, his dream did just that, while the nightmare remained in the far recesses of his mind.
https://www.cleveland.com/browns/2026/01/what-happened-to-myles-garrett-the-night-before-he-set-the-nfl-sack-record-and-how-he-denied-fate.html
