Chiefs' Chris Jones takes accountability for not finishing on Jaguars' game-winning touchdown play

Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones drew scrutiny in the "Monday Night Football" loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars for seeming to quit on a critical play in which Trevor Lawrence scored a late go-ahead touchdown. After initially placing the blame for the touchdown on the defense as a whole, Jones on Thursday took personal accountability for not finishing the play -- one where he could have had a chance to keep Lawrence out of the end zone if he went full speed.

Lawrence tripped over an offensive lineman and hit the ground on a first-and-goal play from the Chiefs' 1-yard line, but he quickly bounced back up and ran for what proved to be the game-winning touchdown. Instead of chasing Lawrence on his scramble to the goal line, Jones walked along the line of scrimmage and watched the Jaguars quarterback make the thrilling play. It was something Jones said "won't happen again."

"It's a teaching point for me," said Jones. "A little adversity. I can't think the play was over. It's a learning lesson. I thought it was over. I thought we had him down, so I kind of stopped, was about to celebrate and then realized that he wasn't down. The teaching lesson for me is 'don't stop.'"

Criticism of the apparent lack of effort ran wild after the game, and fans noted that Jones' social media accounts were deactivated. Jones said, however, that he was not running from criticism and in fact had deleted the profiles two days before the game.

"I gotta finish," said Jones. "I can't think or assume that he's down. I gotta finish. I'll be better."

The stunning loss dropped the Chiefs to a 2-3 start, their worst since 2021. They rebounded in that season to reach the AFC Championship Game, so could a similar bounce back be in store over the final three months of the 2025 season? The road ahead is difficult with playoff and Super Bowl contenders aplenty in the coming weeks, and it starts Sunday night with a showdown against the Detroit Lions.

"I've been focused on the Lions since the game," said Jones. "You can't hold your head on one play or one game. It's a week in, week out thing. You learn from it, you take notes, you take the good, take the bad. It's never really as good as it seems. It's never really as bad as it seems. You just take the good with the bad and you keep pushing."