Shortly after the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers on Christmas Day, defensive tackle Chris Jones took to social media to make a statement about his teammate and starting offensive lineman Joe Thuney.

“Joe thuney……. A F***ing Dawgggggg,” Jones wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

In the 29-10 win over Pittsburgh, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was sacked zero times, which was just the third time this season that Mahomes finished a game without being sacked.

It’s no coincidence that Kansas City has been able to protect Mahomes better since D.J. Humphries (hamstring) went down with an injury in Week 14 and Thuney replaced him at left tackle. In the two games before Christmas Day’s victory, Thuney surrendered just three QB hits and zero sacks as the team’s starting LT, per PFF.

The starting lineup of Thuney, Mike Caliendo, Creed Humphrey, Trey Smith, and Jawaan Taylor has proven to be the Chiefs’ most effective offensive line grouping this season. Because of that, the team should strongly consider keeping Humphries on the bench and Thuney at left tackle for the remainder of the season even when Humphries is healthy enough to return.

Heading into Week 17, the Steelers defense was allowing the seventh-fewest points per game this season, according to Team Ranking. Despite that, Kansas City’s offense displayed how it is rounding into form by scoring 29 points against a tough AFC opponent on the road.

Mahomes had his best performance of the season by completing 29-of-38 pass attempts for 320 yards and three touchdowns. His leading receiver was tight end Travis Kelce, who had a team-high 11 targets and caught eight of them for 84 yards and one touchdown.

Kansas City’s leading rusher was running back Kareem Hunt, who had a team-high nine carries for 20 yards — 2.2 yards per carry — and one touchdown.

Without Jones (calf) in the lineup, the Chiefs’ defense bottled up the Steelers offense. The unit sacked Pittsburgh QB Russell Wilson five times, forced two turnovers (interception, forced fumble), and allowed the Steelers to score on just 1-of-4 red zone trips, per ESPN.

With the win, the Chiefs clinched the No. 1 seed in the AFC, which means they will have a bye week during the first round of the playoffs as well as home-field advantage throughout the postseason

X users reacted to Thuney’s performance on Christmas Day.

“Shoutout to Joe Thuney: Best Tackle and Guard on the team,” one person wrote. “If this team 3 peats he will be a huge reason why. That man’s name will be in the ring of honor one day. Been worth every cent.”

“Joe Thuney moved to LT and has lined-up against Myles Garrett, TJ Watt, Alex Highsmith, Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson over the last 3 games, and the Chiefs went 3-0. Shout out to one of the most elite offensive linemen in the NFL,” another person wrote.

“What Joe Thuney and the rest of the Chiefs O-line has done to 3 of the top D-lines in the NFL in the past 10 days cannot be understated. Absolutely incredible work,” another person wrote. “Now I just ask that Andy Reid dials up a TD for Thuney in the playoffs at some point.”