NEW ORLEANS — The big-game script for the Chiefs includes Patrick Mahomes scrambling for first downs, Andy Reid getting creative with his play calls, Travis Kelce catching touchdowns and Chris Jones crying on television before kickoff.
Camera operators know by now to locate Jones on the sideline during the national anthem — there he was spotted again Sunday before the Super Bowl against the Eagles — because tears will be rolling down his cheeks before he goes steamrolling into offensive backfields to wreck the run game.
Jones traces his tendency to get emotional back to the first of the Chiefs’ seven straight appearances in the AFC Championship game and watching the movie “300” about ancient Spartan soldiers.
“Right before they go into battle, you have some crying because they’re so mad. They’re going to war,” Jones said. “In a sense of playing football, I actually go into that mind frame. Like, I might not make it home tonight, knowing I’m going to make it home. It’s going to get bloody. It’s going to get physical. So in the midst of the national anthem, I have to put myself in that mind frame.”
Jones, 30, signed a top-of-the-market, five-year, $158 million extension after last season.
His sack numbers dropped from 26 over the past two seasons combined to five in 2024, but he still earned a third consecutive First-Team All-Pro selection.
“When he gets his [Hall of Fame] gold jacket, we’re going to realize how special he is,” Mahomes said. “He’s just as important as me and Travis are to this team, and Coach Reid. He’s part of that. People have realized now he’s important. But it’s not even close to the value that people are going to look back and realize how important he was to this team.”
This Super Bowl marked Jones’ 22nd career playoff game.
He entered with 3.5 sacks, 16 quarterback hits and a forced fumble over the last eight of those 22, and he is the main reason that the Chiefs had an 18-game postseason streak of no 100-yard rushers allowed to put on the line Sunday against NFL Offensive Player of the Year Saquon Barkley.
“I’m also retracing all the obstacles it took for me to get here, [during the anthem],” Jones said. “Tears start rolling down because I’m so angry. I’m going through so many emotions. Any [slight] someone said, like, three weeks ago, I’m in my memory, and I’m mad. I’m taking mental notes; anything to fuel the fire.”
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Why is the 6-foot-6, 310-pound defensive tackle a softie at heart? He still sees himself as a kid.
“I used to play backyard football — throw the ball and run,” Jones said. “I still have the child mind frame, in a sense. It’s backyard football on a bigger stage.”
Jones has become such a Super Bowl fixture after five career appearances that he might never go away. Maybe Kleenex will sponsor his visits to radio row in retirement.
But first, Jones has a few more trips to the Super Bowl as a player in mind.
“It’s never too much. You can never get used to it,” Jones said. “I’m an emotional guy. Any time we make it there, I’m crying.”
