Bear Digest

What Joe Thuney sees in Bears that says they can be special

When the Bears left guard starts Saturday's playoff game, only 10 players in history will have more postseason starts.
Gene Chamberlain|
Bears guard Joe Thuney has been a fixture in postseason play, now in both conferences.
Bears guard Joe Thuney has been a fixture in postseason play, now in both conferences. | David Banks-Imagn Images

In this story:

Chicago Bears

While the Bears definitely lack the playoff experience Green Bay has as a team, the Chicago player with the most postseason experience of all pointed out an advantage his team does possess.

No one who takes the field Saturday night for either team will have more postseason experience than Bears left guard Joe Thuney, who has four Super Bowl rings. His 22nd playoff start will be different in that it's his first in the NFC.

The advantage he sees on the Bears' side is experience but of a different sort than past playoff games logged. It's the experience of this season.

“We’ve won a lot of different ways this year," Thuney said Wednesday at Halas Hall. "Offense, defense, special teams have all come up great in different situations."

As such, the Bears can handle whatever happens. And in the playoffs, anything goes.

"Who knows what kind of game it will be?" he said. "I think everyone in the building is locked in on their role, what they need to do and then ready to execute on Saturday.”

Whatever type of game it is and the situation, winning six times in the last two minutes gives the Bears confidence they can rally.

  • They beat the Raiders, Vikings, Commanders and Packers thanks largely to special teams plays.
  • Caleb Williams lit up the scoreboard with his passing against Dallas, Pittsburgh and  Cincinnati.
  • The ground game tore up the Giants, Eagles, Saints, Commanders and Bengals.
  • The late game wins came over the Viking, Giants, Raiders, Commanders, Bengals, and Packers.

The one consistent method of defensive operation was takeaways, something teams usually can't count on happening. They did hold seven teams to less than 20 points, too.

The 33-year-old Thuney is tied with 11 NFL players for 15th most playoff starts. The only active player with more playoff starts than Thuney is Travis Kelce with 25. Both Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes also have 21, but Thuney will move ahead of Mahomes this year..

Thuney said the topic of past playoff games has come up in locker room discussion.

"Yeah, we’ve been talking about it," he said. "We’ve got a lot of guys in there with playoff experience, so just kind of bouncing stories back and forth and talking about it. Yeah, I think we’re just excited."

The sage advice he gave those without the benefit of big-time game experience includes the common link he has seen between postseason winners.

“I think kind of just the overall selflessness of teams," Thuney said. "It doesn’t matter who gets the yards or touchdowns or who has good stats or who doesn’t. All that matters is that we want to win. It doesn’t matter how we win, what it looks like.

"Offense, defense, special teams we’re a whole unit going after them. Each game’s different, but everyone wants to play for each other and I think that kind of theme has been constant.”

In that case, the Bears are definitely in good shape considering all the ways  they've won this year.

Most NFL playoff starts

Starts, players          

48

Tom Brady                        

29

Jerry Rice

27

Peyton Manning

25

Travis Kelce

 24

Brett Favre, Devin McCourty, Gene Upshaw

23

Larry Cole, Joe Montana, Ben Roethlisberger

22

Rob Gronkowski, Jack Reynolds, Charlie Waters, Vince Wilfork

21

Joe Thuney, John Elway, Ted Hendricks, Ray Lewis, Patrick Mahomes, Drew Pearson, Jethro Pugh, Reggie Wayne, Jon Runyan, Andre Reed, Aaron Rodgers

-Source Pro Football Reference

More Chicago Bears News

Sign Up For the Bears Daily Digest - OnSI’s Free Chicago Bears Newsletter

X: BearsOnSI

Published | Modified
Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.