Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Joe Thuney had a huge impact for the Bears in 2025

Episode Date: February 4, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Marshall Harris discussed All-Pro left guard Joe Thuney’s huge impact on the Bears in 2025.

Rahimi Harrison Grody, Midday's Tyndel 2 on Chicago Sports Radio 1043, the score. And we talked to you about Tooney when you guys got him in the summer. You've had almost a full season. How do you describe what he means, what his impact is? Yeah, I mean, he's just a winner. You know, he knows what it looks like. Gets his work done. I think he does a, he's a positive influence throughout the week of preparation.

And we just went in a walkthrough, and, you know, he's the same guy every single day, the model of consistency in terms of his performance, but also in terms of how he goes about his craft, you know. And then in the game, he just, you know what you're going to get every single week. He's been very durable. He's very smart. And I think he's been a huge part of our success up front. I don't think there's any doubt.

You heard Ben Johnson talk about Joe Tooney. We joke and sometimes on Rahimi Harrison Grody call him old Joe Tooney, but that's because he takes a day for rest every week. And it just doesn't matter. He's been that consistent. He had to move over to left tackle in that last postseason game, the playoff game against the Rams. He wasn't a problem.

That's what Joe Toonie does. He can play guard. He can play tackle. He's here for you. So I'm not surprised that Joe Tuny is nominated for the NFL's first ever protector of the year. year award. And while the name is a little giggly, you know, Protector of the Year can mean a lot of things. What is very consistent is how Joe Tunney has played and how he has been a symbol of success

the entire time he's played in the league. So I'm happy to hear that he would be part of the group nominated for an award that I frankly think should have happened a long time ago. Yeah. And if you go through trying to figure out who should get this award, award, it doesn't take long to figure out exactly how he became the guy. And the biggest competition here is within the division, Penae Soule. Let me break it down for you. When you vote for all pro, there are 50 voters, okay? And they do it by first place votes and then you get second, third place votes. Understand this. Amongst linemen, Penae Soule got the highest percentage of first place votes. Fair enough. He at the right tackle position got 45.

of the first place votes. You know what? The other five votes went to all one player. Darno right. So that's good news for the Bears, first of all. And then after that, the second highest percentage of first place votes for any lineman was left guard and Joe Tunney at 31. So he gets 62% of the first place votes.

So to me, that's who the main competition is. The problem is, Benet's really good. He is every bit of a generational talent on the offensive line for the Lions. We know that. And people get put more into the tackle position as opposed to the guard position. But as you said, the versatility, his ability to pop out at left tackle for a second straight season in the postseason. It's got to say something. It's also got to say something that he was on a winner.

You know what Pinae Sewell did not do this year? Go to the playoffs. Did not play in the post season. So I think that's one of the reasons. And Tune, not to call this like Lifetime Achievement E, but obviously you have to build a reputation first. We all know that usually your first Pro Bowl caliber year or all pro caliber year, you usually don't get recognized for that award. It's usually backing it up with a second straight type of year that gets you on everybody's map and then you get the votes. I just think Tune is due here.

It's the inaugural, so I don't know what they'll do, but Tune has as strong a case as anyone. The man didn't give up a sack all season. The six finalists for the Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman Award, which is what the Protector of the Year is, is Garibull's left tackle from Denver, Aaron Brewer, the Center for the Miami Dolphins, Crete Humphrey, the Kansas City Chief Center, Quinn Miners, the right guard for the Denver Broncos,

Penae Soule, as we mentioned, and Joe Tunney. We'll find out tomorrow who the protector of the year is. But as much as we as a show and as a station talk about the offensive line, and as much as the Bears commentators who we love to hear talk, whether it's Tom Thayer, Olin Crutes, James Big Cat Williams, we love talking offensive line. But I'm glad to see that the league is finally acknowledging how crucial they are to quarterback success.

And we talked about our Bears Awards last time we did our show yesterday. Bearsies. The Bearses are the much longer title, which doesn't deserve to be repeated. But in that, we also discussed the meaning of a lot of, these players and I said for me like MVP2 was Joe Tooney when it came to just what his reliability level was and also the veteran presence he added to the team. This is just for the bears. But if he's on your line, you tend to win. AFC East and Super Bowl in 2016. AFC East and Super Bowl in 2017. AFC East and Super Bowl in 2018.

Won the Super Bowl in 16 and 18 with the Patriots. won the AFC in 2019. Missed the playoffs in 2020. It's 2020. Won the AFC West in 2021. Won the AFC West, won the Super Bowl in 22. When the AFC West and won the Super Bowl in 2023. When the AFC West and made the Super Bowl in 2024, won the NFC North in 2025.

The dude helps his team, specifically the quarterback. I hate that that just reaffirms your whole stance on 2020. The fact that this man has been to the playoffs every single year. year of his career except 2020. And the Bears made the playoffs in 2020, but if you know me well enough, you know that I feel like it just doesn't really count, except for Cedie Gardner Johnson. Let me throw something else at you in this discussion. The Bears led the NFL in sacks allowed per game.

1.3. That's the lowest mark of any team. Detroit, anchored by Penaiseul, 18th, 2.3 sacks per game. That's a whole sack more per contest. Yeah, they had injuries on the line, though. And it wasn't Sewell who allowed those. He only allowed two all year. I'm just saying the guy that was there, hey, bears had injuries at left tackle and right tackle.

Bears had whole position changes at left tackle. Well, yeah, that too. That too. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. This is all going to be part of the NFL honors award. Why do you think it took so long for them to come up an award, come up with an award like this? This is something that should have been lock, stock and barrel years and years and years ago. With the salary cap, I think a lot of times, you know, awards also indicate that a guy should

get paid more. And maybe it was something where, you know, the more awards they hand out, maybe they thought it diluted the importance of the others. The Pro Bowl comes to mind. Oh, my goodness. But that's kind of the point here. You know, certain accolades mean more or less now. But to acknowledge offensive linemen, I think it's the right thing to do. Also, we have better metrics now to measure their success. That's certainly true, whether it's next-gen stats, pro football focus, basic watching film, the eye test. Right. And I don't always agree with pro football focus as offensive linemen grades specifically. Because I feel like there's a weight in their algorithm that's off.

It's kind of like how Zips values shortstop more than third base. So inherently you're going to have a higher war projection at short than you would at third. You know, like there's certain, they have to wait the algorithm a certain way to make it make sense. But sometimes they're inefficiencies and that's where they come in. So all of that said, I feel like we now at least have an understanding of how to properly respect the people who play these positions. And I think we are a good group to know that. Like Bears fandom is a good group to understand. So here's what Joe Tuny told our friends at the CHGO, Hogan Johns and football coverage podcasts,

about his appreciation for being recognized. Super humbling, super thankful. And you've got to shout out Dionne Dawkins for kind of being the engine, the driving force. and, you know, Roger Goodell and the NFL for creating this award. So it's really cool and, you know, very humbling to, you know, shine light on our position. And it's just an honor to be mentioned along the current players that are, you know, also finalists and, you know, the panelists, the judges that made the decisions. Just to be in that conversation is amazing and very thankful. Is that an overdue award you think, or do you think Lyman are okay staying in the behind the scenes a little bit?

Well, it's kind of a double-edged sword because, you know, I don't think most of the line guys don't like recognition, but I still think it is, it's great to honor people that don't always get the limelight. So it kind of goes both ways, but, you know, I think it's great to, yeah, to celebrate it, though. Yay, Joe Tooney. Listen. Should we just celebrate him anyway if he doesn't get the award? I was saying, is that going to stop him from, you know, going to the Hall of Fame? No, well, I don't know what they're going to do the vote. voting process between now and the time he's eligible for the

voting for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. So let me knock on wood on that one. We can get him a cake or something. Joe Tuny should be celebrated. Again, he's my MVP of the Bears in 2025. And I think he's going to come back with another strong 2026. I just hope he doesn't have to play left tackle. Yeah, we all hope that Joe Tuny does not have to play left tackle.

I would like to know what the plan is at left tackle. Stairs in the direction. direction of Alice Hall. Coming up next year on Rahimi Harrison Grotie on 1043, the score. Let's get into an idea that has been floated out several times by the owners, because

inevitably it's going to happen. The players are not making a good enough argument against it. Next.