Speedy Viking Had a Horrible Day Following His Breakout Performance
Janik Eckardt
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The rushing offense has been broken all year, and head coach Kevin O’Connell can’t find a sustainable fix. Other teams have the ability to run against every defense by bullying the defensive lines with dominant offensive counterparts, and many franchises find running backs in the later parts of the draft, but the Vikes just can’t get it done.
Speedy Viking Had a Horrible Day Following His Breakout Performance
Minnesota has drafted a running back in 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023. All those players are still on the team, so the Vikings should be set after moving on from Dalvin Cook, but they are not. Alexander Mattison took over the top role in the backfield, Kene Nwangwu is exclusively a kick returner, and 2023 seventh-rounder DeWayne McBride can’t get on the field despite a bunch of injuries and struggling performances.
Ty Chandler, meanwhile, was supposed to be the chosen one, the guy that fixes the rushing attack. Whenever Mattison rushed for no gain, the fanbase yelled at O’Connell for not replacing him with the dynamic sophomore. Chandler has a breakout game in Cincinnati, recording the first 100-yard rushing game since last season with Mattison missing injured, and it surely looked like he was the real deal.
That one contest earned Chandler a bigger role in the final stretch of the season, regardless of Mattison’s status. Indeed, Mattison was active, although not at 100%, and Chandler got the majority of the carries without much success. Chandler rushed eight times for 17 yards and a touchdown. His longest run went for six yards, and he did not log a catch. Of course, Mattison lost a yard on his two carries.
It is bad to watch, and Vikes fans have gone through those struggles for too long, but the Week 16 contest was brutal for Chandler. Just a week ago, he looked like the logical choice to take over the lead role in 2024, following in the footsteps of Dalvin Cook and Adrian Peterson.
The worst-case scenario for him was a rotational job in a committee. That changed on Sunday when the idea of selecting a running back early in April’s annual draft returned.
Kwesi Adofo-Mensah is an analytically-driven general manager, and those tend to have a running back committee without putting many resources into the position, but the approach of drafting McBride and Chandler while extending Mattison hasn’t worked.
Overall, it was a terrible day for the running offense, including the clearly overwhelmed offensive line. Detroit has one of the top rushing defenses in the league, and struggles were expected, but a total of 17 rushing yards is just unacceptable. It tied for the fifth-worst rushing yards total in franchise history.
At the end of the day, the line needs to be better, Chandler needs to make the correct reads, and O’Connell must fix his running scheme. The Vikings rank 27th in rushing yards, 31st in rushing touchdowns, and 25th in rushing yards per attempt. They are also listed at 27 in EPA/rush.
Chandler is 25 years old and rushed for 352 yards and three scores on 80 attempts. He might be the team’s best option this year, but his qualification as the top guy in future years should be doubted, given the fact that the coaching staff has been reluctant to give him more run over Mattison and even signed Cam Akers earlier in the season.
Janik Eckardt is a football fan who likes numbers and stats. The Vikings became his favorite team despite their quarterback at the time, Christian Ponder. He is a walking soccer encyclopedia, loves watching sitcoms, and Classic rock is his music genre of choice. Follow him on Twitter if you like the Vikings: @JanikEckardt
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