In a year that has been yet another tough one to sit through for the Cleveland Browns, this group can take solace in the fact that superstar pass rusher Myles Garrett chasing history as he eyed the single-season sack record was worth the price of admission.
In Week 18 against the Cincinnati Bengals, which was a matchup between two eliminated teams that had nothing to play for, Garrett waited until the fourth quarter to make history. Beating Bengals tackle Orlando Brown Jr. quickly off the snap, Garrett quickly corralled Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and tallied his 23rd sack of the season.
Famously, the old sack record was held by New York Giants legend Michael Strahan. That record-breaking sack came on a play that still riles people up to this day due to how it appears as though the takedown was essentially handed to him for free.
No such charity was afforded to Garrett, who broke the record with a classic No. 95 domination of a lineman ill-equipped to handle his combination of speed and power.
Browns' Myles Garrett breaks sack record with clean, uncontroversial play
Strahan's sack, which broke Mark Gastineau's old mark, is still the subject of some debate, as Brett Favre famously slid directly into Strahan's path to ensure he broke the record. Garrett got his cleanly in the fourth quarter of a one-score game, erasing decades of questions about the legitimacy of the record.
It might be difficult for a player on a team that will own a Top 10 pick in the NFL Draft to win Defensive Player of the Year, but Garrett's stats put him in a class all his own. With eight straight seasons of double-digit sacks, Garrett will end up with a gold jacket in Canton when it's all said and done.
There will always be qualifications about the true nature of this record. Before 1982, sacks were not recorded. Did someone from that era hit 23 unofficially? Reggie White got 21 sacks in 12 games, while TJ Watt needed just 15 games to get his 22.5 sacks. Garrett's sack came at the eleventh hour.
Still, Garrett fulfilled all the parameters he needed to as he chased the record. The Browns have a ton of work to do as they try to get back on the right track in a wide-open AFC North, but they will have one of the best defenses in the league once again, thanks to Garrett anchoring everything.