Though clichéd responses about playing and treating the Super Bowl just like any other game are the norm, Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman Chris Jones realizes full well the magnitude of what lies ahead.
And having helped the Chiefs claim one Super Bowl title already, Jones grasps how monumental it would be to win back-to-back championships on Sunday when Kansas City faces Tampa Bay in Super Bowl LV.
"Everything, man," Jones answered Monday when asked what it would mean to him to repeat as Super Bowl champs. "This is why you play the game. I'm trying to get in the Hall of Fame, one day. When I retire, I want to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. This is the reason you play the game. I want to retire with like six or seven rings.
"When you won a ring, that changes the perspective of things. It makes you feel like you've achieved something in the game, other than personal stats."
Though his perspective might well have changed, the goal remains the same as last season.
Following the Chiefs' 31-20 Super Bowl LIV win over the San Francisco 49ers to conclude last season, Jones inked a four-year extension with the plan ahead being that he and Kansas City would add to their title tally and not rest easy with one.
Prohibitive favorites before and through the 2020 season, the Chiefs are one of the last two teams standing in an unprecedented campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thus, as much as Jones aspires for a second -- and sixth and seventh -- Super Bowl, he believes a win this season would loom all the more astounding considering the setting.
"It'll make the run well worth it," Jones said of winning this year. "Getting your nose swabbed every day, having to adjust to the type of conditions in order to play the game. I think that's a huge step right there, as players that we had to adjust to. Actually winning the Lombardi Trophy, I mean, that would be remarkable and that would be unexplainable, especially during this time in America. If we was able to win it and pull this off, I think it'd be up on the ladder for most highest achievement."
The Chiefs are looking to become the first team to repeat as Super Bowl champions since Tom Brady's Patriots in 2003-04 and the ninth all-time. Jones certainly doesn't want to stop at two, but he most certainly realizes how important and improbable another triumph would be.
