Five years ago, after the Kansas City Chiefs had just rallied to beat the 49ers in their first Super Bowl appearance in five decades, Chris Jones settled behind a dais and was asked about what the future held for him.
Now a three-time All-Pro defensive tackle, Jones was heading into free agency for the first time back then.
“Next year we’re coming back,” he replied with a smile. “We’re coming back for a repeat.”
This year, the Chiefs are going for a three-peat. And the good-natured, game-wrecking Jones has been there for it all.
Rather than hitting free agency back in January 2020, and after getting franchised, Jones signed a long-term contract to stay in Kansas City. He signed another, bigger deal last March, one that could mean Jones plays his entire career here. And that makes him one of six elder statesman for a franchise in the midst of a dynasty — those that will have played in seven consecutive AFC championship games when the Chiefs face the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night at Arrowhead Stadium.
“I’m getting old,” Jones, 30, said with a laugh. “It’s fun, though. It’s a challenge. Takes a lot of hard work, commitment, a lot of belief, a lot of encouragement throughout the year. A lot of unselfish play amongst the team to continue to do that.
“We had this message in chapel about climbing the mountaintop,” Jones added. “You don’t want to stay up there because you can’t really breathe. The air is too thin. So you go back down. But the joy is climbing to the mountaintop.”
Few teams have managed to knock the Chiefs from the top of the mountain.
They’ve won four of the past six AFC championship games, and both losses came in overtime: to the Patriots in the first of their title-game streak in 2019 and to the Bengals three years ago. When they’ve reached the Super Bowl, only Tom Brady and Tampa Bay have managed to stop Patrick Mahomes and Co. from hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.
Mahomes is another of the six Chiefs players who have been there for all seven title games. The first came in his first year as the starter, when he shredded records on the way to earning the first of his two NFL MVP awards. In that matchup with the Patriots, he threw for 295 yards and three touchdowns in the losing effort.
To this day, Mahomes talks about how that loss inside Arrowhead Stadium fueled him to all those future championships.
“Obviously, you want to win three in a row,” Mahomes said, “but building those memories with the guys and with the community every single year is special. When I look back at all the different Super Bowls we’ve won, I look back at special moments that we’ve had and special games that we’ve had.”
Along with Jones and Mahomes, four-time All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce has been there for all seven AFC title games. So have Derrick Nnadi, a perpetually overlooked but solid defensive tackle, long snapper James Winchester and kicker Harrison Butker.
Cowboys pick Schottenheimer >> The Dallas Cowboys say offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer has agreed on a deal to become the storied franchise’s next coach.
The somewhat surprising choice announced Friday night is a familiar one for star quarterback Dak Prescott, who worked closely with Schottenheimer the past two seasons when former coach Mike McCarthy was the play-caller.
Prescott publicly supported to return of McCarthy, whose initial five-year contract with Dallas expired, but McCarthy and the Cowboys mutually parted ways last week.
Schottenheimer is the ninth coach hired by owner Jerry Jones since he bought the team in 1989 and fired the only coach the Cowboys had for their first 29 seasons, Pro Football Hall of Famer Tom Landry.
Jaguars hire Coen as head coach >> The Jacksonville Jaguars hired Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Liam Coen as the eighth head coach in franchise history, capping a covert operation that included owner Shad Khan moving on from general manager Trent Baalke and Coen reversing course with the Buccaneers.
PATRIOTS’ PEPPERS ACQUITTED >> A jury acquitted New England Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers in his assault and battery trial.
Peppers finished testifying earlier Friday by denying he choked or shoved his accuser. Peppers, who first took the witness stand on Thursday, had been on trial this week on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
A woman testified Thursday that Peppers grabbed her by the neck, slammed her against the wall and pushed her down the stairs after another man called her cellphone several times while they were in bed.
Peppers said from the stand that he told police that he believed “she was trying to do all this to mess up my career,” The Boston Globe reported.
Along with the woman’s testimony, prosecutors showed several videos of the incident, in which Peppers can be seen asking the naked woman to repeatedly leave his house in Braintree, Massachusetts. The woman said Peppers was filming her and taunting her, as she tried to get her belongings and depart after the alleged assault.