Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell Puts $7 Million Starter on Notice

After a breakout performance from second-year running back Ty Chandler, Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell put starter Alexander Mattison‘s spot into question.

In his first career start, Chandler racked up 132 rushing yards on 23 carries in a 27-24 overtime loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday, December 16. He became the team’s first player to rush for 100 or more yards in a single game this season — a long time coming for a running game that ranks 23rd in yardage through 15 weeks.

Asked about Chandler’s role and if he would start even when Mattison returns from an ankle injury that held him out last week, O’Connell did not indicate that Mattison would retake the starting reigns, saying it will depend “scheme-wise” who they start going forward.

“There’s no question that I thought Ty had a huge role and impact on the game the other day. Ty is absolutely a guy that is going to continue to see a featured role in our offense. What that looks like moving forward, as far as who gets the first touch of the game and all those things, we’ll continue to kind of work through based upon what we’re attempting to do scheme-wise,” O’Connell said in a December 18 news conference.

“But there’s no question that you know we have confidence in Alex, but Ty’s done a lot of great things and we’ll continue to do so and hopefully he’ll be a huge reason why we’re able to have success offensively.”