Thomas Jones
Any Bears’ fan will remember Thomas Jones as the running back that helped get them to the Super Bowl in 2006. They may also remember him as the challenge that held the late great Cedric Benson from getting on the field.
Jones came to the Bears as a free agent and ended up as the starter back in 2004. He rushed for nearly 1000 yards in his first season with the Bears. When Benson was brought in via the 2005 NFL Draft, it was thought that Jones would have to share the load but he ended up being the feature back after Benson held out for a while after being drafted.
That season, Jones rushed for just a hair over 1300 yards and had nine touchdowns.
After moving around on the depth chart in 2006, Jones once again found himself as the featured running back. However, this time he would work with Benson to help the Bears move the ball on the ground. That season, Jones ran for just over 1200 yards. Incidentally, his brother, Julius, rushed for 1000 yards making Thomas and Julius the first set of brothers to run for 1000 yards in the same season.
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His strong play allowed the Bears to march through the playoffs and onto the Super Bowl where Chicago lost to the Indianapolis Colts.
The Bears wanted to utilize Benson more so they traded Jones to the Jets with a second-round pick getting a second-round pick in return. His career lasted another five seasons with two teams, the Jets and the Chiefs before he retired.
While he was with the Bears, Jones rushed 850 times for 3493 yards. His yards per carry average was 4.1 and he averaged 77.6 yards per game. Jones had a total of 22 touchdowns during his time in Chicago.
Jones was drafted by the Arizona Cardinals and spent three years with them, one year with Tampa Bay, three years with the Bears and Jets and two with the Chiefs. It’s hard to pick which team he might go in representing should he be selected for the Hall of Fame. I would think he might go with the Bears giving them yet another member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.