12-20-2023, 04:55 PM
Ty Chandler gives Vikings' running game needed boost play
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....
More at link...
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....
More at link...
