Instead of making his 108th consecutive start along the offensive line, Kansas City Chiefs left guard Joe Thuney will instead sit out against the Rams.
The only thing that matters to anyone associated with the Kansas City Chiefs, staff member or player, is winning a championship. If you polled everyone inside Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday afternoon, the answers would undoubtedly be unanimous in terms of the team’s overall goals, but that doesn’t mean that player achievements are not important. Which is why it’s sad to see Joe Thuney’s iron man streak come to an end in Week 12.
Seeing Joe Thuney line up at left guard for the Chiefs—and before that, the New England Patriots—is a given each week and it has been for the last six-plus seasons. In fact, it wasn’t until he was set to make his 11th start in his seventh NFL season that Thuney was finally forced to miss a game.
The Chiefs decided to play it safe and keep Thuney inactive for Sunday’s contest against the visiting Los Angeles Rams instead of forcing anything for the sake of a player’s streak given the long-term goals in mind. That means that after 107 regular season games and another 13 postseason starts, Thuney’s consecutive starts streak has come to an end.
Chiefs Kingdom is used to watching iron men along the offensive line as both right tackle Mitchell Schwartz and superstar guard Will Shields before were both well-known for their incredible dependability.
Thuney will sit out with an ankle injury suffered during the team’s Week 11 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. Thuney sat out of practice on Wednesday and Thursday but returned in a limited capacity on Friday. He was designated as questionable before the game, but the Chiefs are clearly wanting to make sure he doesn’t aggravate anything and make it worse with a Super Bowl run coming into view.