The Chiefs opened the season in full-blown crisis mode at 0-2. And just when it seemed like they’d finally found their footing with big wins over the Giants and Ravens, they went and blew it after that botch job vs the Jaguars. And a lot of fingers are pointing at Chris Jones, who froze on what turned out to be the game-winning play. The DT ended up deleting his socials, and Patrick Mahomes had a thoughtful take on it.

Speaking to reporters this week, Mahomes didn’t shy away from addressing Jones’ decision to go offline. “Yeah. I mean, it can be toxic, for sure, I mean, being on social media and seeing stuff”, Mahomes said. “But I mean to me, at the end of the day, I know who I am, and I know the amount of work that I put in, and I can live with myself and live with the results.”

“And so, I feel like, if you’re putting in the work and you’re doing whatever you can to leave everything on the football field, you can live with the results of a win, loss, or whatever anyone has to say,” Mahomes added.

Look, football fans are some of the most passionate (and ruthless) in the world. They’ll worship you one week and turn on you the next if a single play goes wrong. You only have to scroll through a player’s comments after a bad loss to see the flood of “bench him” comments.

It’s brutal, and for a player, that noise can eat away at your confidence fast. But Mahomes’ point still stands: when you’re competing at the highest level, criticism is part of the deal. Even when you play well, someone will have something to say. All that matters is having confidence in the work you put in every single day. Knowing what you’ve put in and shutting out everything else.

Chris Jones has always been that kind of guy. A 31-year-old veteran in his 10th season, a three-time All-Pro, and one of the most dominant defensive linemen of this era. He embodies competitiveness and grit. So if someone like him felt the need to disappear from social media, you know the criticism hit a nerve.

What led to Chris Jones deactivating his socials

And it wasn’t hard to see why. The Chiefs had just marched 86 yards to take the lead late in the fourth quarter. Trevor Lawrence led the Jaguars’ backfield with 23 seconds and zero timeouts left. Lawrence took a snap and tripped over, somehow scrambled up, and ran untouched into the end zone while Jones stood frozen. Jaguars won, 31-28.

And you could pin the blame on the entire Chiefs defense here. But Jones’ lack of reaction became the image of the loss because he was clearly close enough to at least make an attempt to prevent it. And that’s what makes this sting more.

Kansas City had clawed its way back into form after an ugly start, and now they’re right back at square one because of one busted play. Jones knew what was coming when he opened X or Instagram. Chiefs fans are rather hysterical when something like this happens. Think of that, Kelce’s mistake in the interception in that Eagles‘ loss.

It doesn’t help that Jones hasn’t been himself lately. Just even tackles and one sack through five games, and only six sacks total across his last 20 regular-season appearances. Sure, he’s been double- and triple-teamed all season. But the fans don’t care about justification after a game-changing error.

The Chiefs need him to rediscover that dominant form because when Chris Jones is at his best, Kansas City’s defense looks completely different. But until he gets back to that level, the noise won’t stop. Until then, don’t expect him to pop back up on social media.