Ty Chandler gives Vikings’ running game needed boost
EAGAN, Minn. — Ty Chandler grew into a cult hero of Minnesota Vikings fans this season, long before he got a chance to be the team’s lead running back. Like a backup quarterback behind a struggling starter, Chandler always seemed to profile as someone who might perform better.
The Vikings’ brain trust, however, didn’t agree. Despite some of the NFL’s most anemic rushing numbers, and having seen for themselves his potential for explosiveness, coaches held Chandler in a supplemental role until they had no other realistic choice. His 132-yard performance in Saturday’s 27-24 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, the Vikings’ first 100-yard rushing game in more than a calendar year, was a reminder that sometimes decisions aren’t hard as NFL teams make them.
“A lot of times you see more of the finished product [in the development of a player],” offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said, “and you say, ‘Why wasn’t he in right from the start?’ There’s been a lot of growth from when he first came in.”
There’s no doubt Chandler has made significant strides since the Vikings made him a fifth-round pick in 2022. But his winding road toward Saturday’s performance, and the reality that it might not be enough to keep him in the starting lineup, provides an insightful window into the way the Vikings’ coaching staff — and coach Kevin O’Connell in particular — has managed personnel in what has been a relatively convivial locker room during its 31-game tenure in Minnesota.
As a former NFL player himself, O’Connell was the victim of a quick and surprising judgment when the New England Patriots waived him one year after making him a third-round draft choice in 2008. Whether by coincidence or intent, O’Connell has taken a much different approach to decision-making.
Last season, for example, he was either unwilling or unable to impose significant changes on the failing scheme of defensive coordinator Ed Donatell, who said publicly players would eventually learn to execute it better, even as it led to a quick playoff exit. In 2023, O’Connell decided to keep quarterback Joshua Dobbs in the starting lineup after a four-interception game, even though his original backup, Nick Mullens, was available. In explaining that decision to the Fox broadcast crew that announced the Vikings’ Week 14 game at Las Vegas, O’Connell said he wanted to give Dobbs the chance to correct mistakes that he hadn’t received in other stops in his NFL career — while also acknowledging that Dobbs essentially saved their season as an emergency acquisition.
But O’Connell’s patience and loyalty has never been more evident than with the Vikings’ running back position this season.
Alexander Mattison entered training camp as the Vikings’ unquestioned starter following the departure of Dalvin Cook, with Chandler as his backup. Over the first three regular season games, during which the Vikings ranked No. 31 in rushing, Mattison received 76% of backfield touches and 77% of snaps. But soon it was Chandler, not Mattison, who was supplanted when the Vikings acquired veteran Cam Akers from the Los Angeles Rams.
Chandler all but disappeared from the Vikings’ backfield for six games, prompting him to approach special teams coordinator Matt Daniels about getting reps as the personal protector on punts, Daniels said. In that role, Chandler began to demonstrate unmistakable big-play potential. He converted two fake punts with runs of 15 yards in Week 5 and 31 in Week 11. In between, he had a 103-yard kickoff return reversed by penalty during Week 8. In his rare appearances on offense, Chandler had two other big gains called back: a 27-yard reception on a double pass in Week 7 and a 29-yard touchdown run after Mattison entered concussion protocol in Week 10.
Akers suffered a season-ending Achilles tear in Week 9, and that turn of events seemed to provide a natural opening for Chandler. But with the Vikings parked at No. 26 in NFL rushing offense, Mattison cleared protocol in time for their next game and started against the Denver Broncos.
Mattison rushed for 81 yards on 18 carries that day, but his third-quarter fumble was a critical mistake in a 21-20 loss. O’Connell delivered a relatively harsh public assessment afterwards, saying, “We have to be critical and make sure there is an accountability factor there.” It was easy to hear O’Connell’s words and again think Chandler would get an opportunity to be the Vikings’ lead back.
Instead, O’Connell settled on a tortured resolution: Mattison was on the field for the Vikings’ first play of their next game, Week 12 against the Chicago Bears, but Chandler received the first carry. Mattison wound up taking more than twice as many carries as Chandler and continued in the lead role until Mattison’s ankle injury in Week 14 left the Vikings with a thin depth chart. Chandler and kickoff
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