Amid uncertainty about whether he will be back for a ninth season with the Kansas City Chiefs, Chris Jones provided fans with a spark of hope Wednesday.

At the Chiefs’ victory parade, Jones fueled talk of a three-peat by indicating he wants to return to the team.

‘I got on this stage last year and I said: ‘run it back, run it back,” Jones said. ‘But you know what? I want that three-peat. And for those who want Chris Jones gone, I ain’t going nowhere, baby. I’m going to be here this year, and the year after that. I need that three-peat.’

Unless he receives the franchise tag or agrees to a long-term contract with the Chiefs, Jones is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the start of the new league year in March. Issuing the franchise tag is expected to cost Kansas City more than $32 million, which could be prohibitive for a franchise that is currently projected to have just $22.8 million in cap space, according to OverTheCap.com.

In the week before the Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory over the San Francisco 49ers, Jones said he hoped to remain with the franchise but acknowledged his time with the team could be ending.

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‘I know there’s a possibility this could be my last game with the Chiefs. You just take it all in,’ Jones said Wednesday in the lead-up to the 25-22 win over the San Francisco 49ers. ‘I’ll let the offseason do its thing. I don’t really focus on it. I’m not too worried about it. After everything is settled and the dust clears, we’ll see where we’re at.’

Chiefs general manager Brett Veach said prior to the Super Bowl that retaining Jones and cornerback L’Jarius Sneed would be top offseason priorities.

‘Sometimes I look at our situation and I’m like, ‘I don’t know how we’re going to do this,’ but we usually work through things systematically and have a list of the priorities,’ Veach said Thursday. ‘Certainly, Chris and LJ are at the top of the list.

‘It’s extremely hard because you have two keystone players there.’

A five-time Pro Bowl selection, Jones remains the linchpin of the Chiefs’ defensive front after recording 10 ½ sacks last season. He figured prominently into several key plays in Kansas City’s Super Bowl victory, including a pressure on third-and-4 in overtime that forced the 49ers to settle for a field goal.

A key figure for the Kansas City Chiefs isn’t going anywhere.

The franchise announced Wednesday morning, about an hour prior to its parade to celebrate its victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl 58, that it had re-signed defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo to a contract extension. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Spagnuolo, 64, just completed his fifth season as Kansas City’s defensive coordinator and has quickly developed a reputation for shining in big games. Kansas City is no longer known only for its prolific offense; the Chiefs defense has become part of a championship identity that has seen the team win consecutive Super Bowls and three in the last five seasons.

Against the 49ers, Spagnuolo’s defense gave up 382 total yards, but the game turned in the third quarter, when his unit stuffed San Francisco to three consecutive three-and-out drives to start the second half.

This year, the Chiefs posted the NFL’s second-best scoring defense, allowing just 15.8 points per game and also ranked fifth in total defense (337.5 yards per game allowed), fifth in defensive third down efficiency (28.57%) and tied for fourth in defensive red zone efficiency (57.14%).

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Under Spagnuolo’s direction this year, defensive tackle Chris Jones was nominated to his second consecutive, first-team All-Pro selection and slot cornerback Trent McDuffie earned his first-ever first-team nod, in his second season in the NFL.

Spagnuolo had served as the head coach of the St. Louis Rams from 2009-11, compiling a record of just 11-41 before his dismissal, and he was also the interim head coach for the New York Giants in the 2017 season after the franchise fired Ben McAdoo from his post.

All Kansas City Chiefs ‘players, coaches and staff are accounted for’ following the mass shooting at their Super Bowl parade on Valentine’s Day, according to Kansas City mayor Quinton Lucas who said during a news conference she spoke with the organization.

“We went out today like everyone in Kansas City, looking to have a celebration,” Lucas said. “That celebration was marred by a shooting today. This is absolutely a tragedy the likes of which we would have never expected in Kansas City and the likes of which we remember for some time.”

Lucas didn’t answer when asked if any Chiefs players were in danger, but said ‘a number of us had to flee from a situation because we heard a sound of gunshots.’

Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves confirmed one person was killed and there are 21 others who were wounded. Police apprehended three suspects.

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“I’m angry at what happened today,” Graves said. “The people who came to this celebration should expect a safe environment… This tragedy occurred even in the presence of uniformed law enforcement officers.”

The shooting happened just as the Super Bowl parade was wrapping up and the crowd began to leave the area.

Several players at the parade offered prayers and condolences for the city and the people injured. 

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said he is “praying for Kansas City” alongside several prayer hand emojis. Mahomes is coming off winning his third career Super Bowl MVP award Sunday in Super Bowl 58.

“Please join me in prayer for all the  victims in this heinous act. Pray that doctors & first responders would have steady hands & that all would experience full healing,” teammate Dru Tranquill added.

Steve Wilks is being dismissed just three days after the San Francisco 49ers lost Super Bowl 58 to the Kansas City Chiefs.

“I was sleeping on this for a few nights, trying to come up with a few tough decisions, but this morning I relieved Steve Wilks of his duties. Gonna end up making a change here at defensive coordinator. Really tough decision. It says nothing about Steve as a man or football coach,” Shanahan said. “He’s a great football coach. But just where we’re going and where we’re at with our team from a scheme standpoint and things like that, looking through it all throughout the year through these last few days, I felt pretty strongly that this was the decision that was best for our organization.”

Shanahan’s decision to fire Wilks is a reversal from what he told reporters at his end-of-year news conference on Tuesday in which he said, “I expect all our coaches to be back.”

However, Shanahan acknowledged Wednesday that he was unsure about Wilks’ fate as of Tuesday.

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Wilks led the 49ers defense for just one season. The 49ers had the NFL’s eighth ranked total defense under Wilks in 2023. But San Francisco had the NFL’s top defensive unit the previous season and a top-three defense in 2021.

Wilks had replaced DeMeco Ryans, who was the 49ers’ defensive coordinator before he accepted the Houston Texans’ head coaching position last January. Wilks’ firing means the 49ers will be on their third defensive coordinator in as many seasons.

“It ended up not being the right fit,” Shanahan said. “It hurt for me to do this but it’s exactly what I had to.”

The 54-year-old coach was previously the Carolina Panthers’ interim head coach in 2022 after the team fired Matt Rhule during the season. Wilks also spent one season as the Arizona Cardinals’ head coach in 2018.

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon on X @TheTylerDragon.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Ford swept the front row in qualifying for the Daytona 500 with former race winners Joey Logano and Michael McDowell shocking powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports.

“This is all about the team. I’d like to take credit, but I can’t. Superspeedway qualifying is 100 percent the car,” said Logano, who won the first Daytona 500 pole for Team Penske. “Finally, someone else wins the pole.”

Hendrick drivers had won the pole at Daytona in eight of the last nine years, but the team’s highest qualifier Wednesday night was Kyle Larson in third.

The entire night, in which only the front row for Sunday’s season-opening race was set, belonged to Ford. Four drivers in the manufacturer’s new Dark Horse advanced to the final round-of-10 qualifying portion with Logano and McDowell sweeping the front row.

Logano turned a lap of 181.947 mph as the 2015 Daytona 500 winner earned his first pole since Atlanta last year. It was also Logano’s first pole on a superspeedway.

McDowell, the 2021 winner, qualified second at 181.686 for Front Row Motorsports.

Larson was third in a Chevrolet after Hendrick drivers had won three straight Daytona 500 poles heading into Wednesday night. Austin Cindric in a Ford for Penske was fourth and followed by Hendrick teammates Chase Elliott and William Byron in Camaros.

Richard Childress Racing teammates Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch qualified seventh and eighth in Chevrolets, followed by Ross Chastain in a Chevy for Trackhouse Racing and Harrison Burton in a Ford for Wood Brothers Racing. Dillon won the Daytona 500 in 2018.

Anthony Alfredo of Beard Motorsports and David Ragan in a special third car for RFK Racing took two of the four open spots in the field based on speed. Jimmie Johnson, a two-time Daytona 500 winner driving for his own Legacy Motor Club, did not make it into the field and will have to race his way in through one of the two Thursday night qualifying races.

Alfredo was never in danger after posting the fastest speed of all the cars not already locked into the 40-car field. But he was so fast – he was in the top five at one point – that he was never in danger of not qualifying for the Daytona 500.

“This is insane, we were just talking about every (qualifying) scenario we may face,” Alfredo said. “We have clearly a fast Chevrolet Camaro and to know we are in … and remove ourselves from some of the sketchy circumstances and focus on Sunday is amazing.”

Ragan is the first driver being used by RFK Racing this year as a third Ford in select races.

“It’s always big to be in the Daytona 500 and the whole week, I’ve just been trying not to make mistakes,” said Ragan, who is 0 for 16 in “The Great American Race.”

“I didn’t have a chance to beat Jimmie Johnson day in and day out during my career, so I’ll take the small victories when I can get them.”

Johnson’s showing was a product of Toyota’s overall effort. The highest-qualifying Toyota was Erik Jones – who drives for Johnson at Legacy – at 22nd.

“I had higher expectations for sure, but we are lumped right there with the other Toyotas. It is what it is,” Johnson said. “I’ve never been in this position, so I don’t know. I came down here mentally prepared to race my way in if that was required. I’m well studied. I spent a lot of time working on the environment of the Duels and the way the race will unfold. Just get out there and race hard and see how it unfolds.”

When the Kansas City Chiefs have found success in recent years, conspiracy theories have followed.

This year, with Taylor Swift in tow during an election cycle, the speculation proliferated, but the referees’ preferential treatment of Super Bowl MVP QB Patrick Mahomes has always been at the top of the list among conspiracy theorists.

Fans of opposing teams don’t like how dominant the Chiefs have been, so the only explanation has to be that the referees offer Mahomes preferential treatment. These claims have no foundation to stand on and asking for any evidence to support them often leads to cherrypicked clips that you could find for any other quarterback in the league.

That said, new audio from Mahomes’ Super Bowl 58 victory over the San Francisco 49ers shows that the referees maybe think a little higher of Mahomes than the rest of the league.

What did the referees say?

The clip above reveals audio from players, coaches, and referees right before a defensive stop by the Chiefs. It is only a short segment of the video, but at one point, referee Bill Vinovich makes the statement: ‘Your best play that you have in your book right now,’ referring to what the 49ers’ offense needed to do at that moment. ‘Because you don’t want to give Mahomes the ball back.’

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Some fans did not realize that referees talk about games like this as they are officiating.

What does this mean?

Isn’t it obvious?! THE GAME WAS RIGGED! CLEARLY!

Crazy enough, some people actually seem to think this from the video.

Other people looked at other areas of the game where the refs did not make a call which ended up impacting the game.

In all seriousness, this doesn’t mean anything. So a referee mentioned how good a quarterback Mahomes is. Everyone does that. There were surely 49ers fans watching the Super Bowl who said something similar in that moment. If anything, it would point to Vinovich wanting the 49ers to succeed because he’s talking about what they need to do to win.

For years now, there have been conspiracies floating around that the NFL is rigged, and if we’re being totally honest, this year didn’t do much to quell those rumors. But the Chiefs had proven capable of winning multiple championships before the Travis Kelce-Swift romance was ever imagined. Either this is the longest con ever fathomed and they’d been planning this for years, or the Chiefs – and Mahomes – are really good.

Vinovich knows the answer.

Former USWNT forward Megan Rapinoe said on the ‘Pablo Torre Finds Out’ podcast that there is a ‘special place in hell’ for those who celebrated her career-ending Achilles injury in November during the NWSL championship game.

“We want these perfect stories and I’m a controversial figure and having people celebrate it,” Rapinoe said. “I’m like wow, you guys are in a special place in hell that you’re celebrating this.”

The two-time World Cup winner suffered the injury three minutes into the championship game where OL Reign lost 1-0 to Gotham FC. Rapinoe then announced her retirement at the end of 2023.

During the podcast, soccer star Rapinoe also spoke about the backlash she received for her comment on how her injury was proof that there was no God. She clarified that those who were offended “missed the whole joke.”

 “Somebody needs to check on the Christians, they’re not OK. They also missed the whole joke,” Rapinoe said.

Further, she added that she was not surprised by the reaction and that she always finds a way to make a funny dig.

Megan Rapinoe’s impact on and off the field

Megan Rapinoe is a prominent figure in women’s soccer, recognized for her significant contributions to the sport.

Off the field, she is also well-known for her advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights and her support of the racial justice movement. Rapinoe has made headlines for kneeling during the national anthem and for leading the gender discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation, fighting for equal pay.

On the field, Rapinoe is one of the most accomplished players in the history of United States Women’s soccer.

Rapinoe has won two World Cup Trophies and an Olympic gold medal, as well as individual awards such as the World Cup Golden Ball, the World Cup Golden Boot, the Ballon d’Or, and the FIFA Best Women’s Player award.

After the San Francisco 49ers’ devastating loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 58, several people started pointing fingers trying to determine who was to blame for the defeat. Many pointed at Kyle Shanahan, as some players didn’t realize that having the ball second in overtime would’ve been an advantage. Many others blamed rookie kicker Jake Moody for having an extra point blocked, despite him making two 50-plus yard field goals earlier in the game.

Well, based on a tweet from 49ers O-lineman Jon Feliciano, Feliciano believes his teammate and fellow offensive lineman Spencer Burford is to blame for San Francisco not getting a first down while they were in the redzone.

Feliciano tweet and fallout explained

Feliciano responded to a tweet blaming right tackle Colton McKivitz for not blocking Chris Jones on a pivotal third down in overtime. Feliciano claimed that Jones was not McKivitz’s man to block.

This obviously created another question. Who was supposed to block Jones?

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Feliciano responds, never naming whose job it was but hinting that the play would have been fine if the person in question did what they were supposed to.

Well, after that, the player in question reveals himself. It was none other than guard Spencer Burford.

To Feliciano’s credit, he immediately realizes his mistake and tries to take back what he said, blaming his rashness on being hungover.

At this point, people didn’t know who to be upset at. Feliciano seemed genuine in his apology, and you can’t blame him for being upset after enduring the biggest loss of his career. He even went out of his way to not name anyone specific. He was merely defending McKivitz. At the same time though, based on what Feliciano said, anyone could realize that if blocking Jones was not McKivitz’s job, it was whoever was next to McKivitz. There really was only one option.

At the very least though, Feliciano seemed to realize his mistake and backed off. However, that was just the beginning.

In comes Eagles lineman Jalen Carter

After these tweets, Philadelphia Eagles’ rookie defensive lineman had some words of his own, expressing dismay with Feliciano via a story on Instagram.

According to Carter, during the Eagles’ Week 13 game against the 49ers, he and Feliciano got into a heated argument where Feliciano mentioned the car accident that Carter got into in college that ended up killing his teammate Devin Willock as well as Georgia team staffer Chandler LeCroy.

This is obviously a super low blow if true. No one deserves to have the death of their friends hung over them like that. Feliciano, however, defended himself, claiming that Carter was the one who started the inappropriate comments.

Obviously, it’s impossible to tell who’s being truthful here. If Feliciano is telling the truth, then Carter is absolutely in the wrong. Feliciano may not have responded appropriately, but you can’t blame someone who just had their family’s lives threatened.

Feliciano finished the conversation up once again expressing regret for how he handled the situation with Burford, but doubled down on his argument with Carter.

Feliciano basically states that Carter wanted to talk trash, but couldn’t take it when the same energy was tossed back at him. He also stated that he has too much to live for to give Carter another thought.

As stated earlier, it’s impossible to tell who is in the right in this situation, because we don’t know the truth of what was said. Regardless though, that moment happened months ago at this point. Feliciano seems genuinely sorry for throwing his teammate under the bus, and that’s the only thing we can see through these social media posts.