Joe Thuney has been a part of football at its best.
He won four Super Bowls with two teams in New England and Kansas City. He won those rings with two coaches of different styles and demeanors in Bill Belichick and Andy Reid. He knows what winning football looks like.
When the Chicago Bears traded a 2026 fourth-round draft pick to the Chiefs in exchange for Thuney in March, the four-time All-Pro guard had little say in the matter.
He was heading to a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff game since the 2010 season and is coming off a 5-12 finish in 2024. With one year remaining on his contract, it was initially unclear if Thuney would be a one-year rental in Chicago or if this would be a more long-term pairing.
Thuney answered that question this week when he signed a two-year, $35 million contract extension that will keep him with the Bears through the 2027 season. The team made the deal official Wednesday morning.
When the Bears began their offseason workout program in April, Thuney needed only a couple of weeks at Halas Hall to realize this is where he wants to be.
“As the days rolled into weeks, you realize this is a special place, special building, special history here, and the people in the building just make it even more special,” Thuney said. “I don’t know if there was an exact moment or anything, but pretty early on I could just tell this is something I want to be a part of, something that I think would be really cool going forward.”
The money, of course, talks. Stability beyond the current season is always important to an NFL player. But it says a lot that a veteran such as Thuney — who made close to $100 million in his first two NFL contracts — wants to stay in Chicago.
He could have played out this season and tested the free-agent market next year in search of an opportunity to join a contender. Instead, Thuney is putting his faith in the Bears franchise. More specifically, he’s putting it in the hands of first-year coach Ben Johnson.
Already, Thuney is impressed.
“Being in meetings with him, you can just tell the intent, the intention, the attention to detail, very high standard, which is awesome,” Thuney said. “He’s very good at communicating. You know exactly what he wants from each play, from each player, very specific. He’s a great coach, teaches very well and it’s very cool to learn from.”
Thuney’s veteran presence is exactly why the team targeted him before free agency. He has played in 146 regular-season games plus 21 playoff games. He rarely misses snaps because of injury. According to Bears offensive line coach Dan Roushar, Thuney puts his head down and works.
“He’s extremely humble,” Roushar said last month. “He’s really smart. He knows exactly how to play the game. He knows how to prepare. He’s really got a great mind from a football standpoint. I feel like he is going to have a phenomenal presence with the group.”
The Bears plan to play Thuney at left guard. He and fellow additions Drew Dalman at center and Jonah Jackson at right guard will make up a completely revamped interior offensive line. With Thuney signing his extension, the Bears now have all three under contract through 2027.
The hope is they can bolster a line that needed a reboot inside.
“Drew and Jonah are great guys,” Thuney said. “They work relentlessly, weight room, film room, every part of the game, you can tell how passionate they are for the game. It’s cool that guys will be here for a couple years, so it’s been great working with them.”
That process finally is beginning to take shape. The Bears are back on the practice field this week for the beginning of organized team activities. For the first time since last month’s NFL draft, they have most of the veterans and rookies on the field together.
The team still has questions to work out at left tackle. Last year’s starter, Braxton Jones, remains out as he recovers from ankle surgery. The coaching staff is giving both Kiran Amegadjie, a second-year pro out of Yale, and Ozzy Trapilo, a rookie from Boston College, looks at left tackle during OTAs.
But no matter how things shake out on the quarterback’s blind side, the Bears can rest assured they have their three building blocks on the interior locked up for the foreseeable future.
