EAGAN, Minn. — Ty Chandler is bashing on the field and bashful off it.

In last Sunday's 23-17 upset win against San Francisco, the Vikings running back was fast with his first steps and violent at the finishes.

Chandler barreled his way to 82 yards rushing on 10 carries. His vision and contact balance excelled, turning off-tackle runs into big-gainers on the edge and splitting arm tackles to pick up five first downs.

The style contrasts how Chandler acted when the hoopla subsided. The 26-year-old sat in front of his corner stall in the locker room, head down, short dreadlocks in his face, silent. Still a challenge to tackle.

By reporters this time.

Myles Gaskin glanced at Chandler when he overheard him politely try to decline post-game attention.

"I told you they were going to ask you questions," Gaskin teased as Chandler had no interest in the limelight.

He was one of the first players dressed into his street clothes. Really, his game spoke for itself.

But several minutes and a second-ask later, Chandler's reluctance turned to a smile. He extended his hand for a shake – "Hey, I'm Ty, nice to meet you." – and obliged to break down his performance.

"Big shoutout to the offensive line, man," the soft-spoken third-year back immediately deflected recognition, again. "We've got a physical team. Every position group. Everybody brings it every week."

"Ty's country, all right? He's from [Tennessee], so he's got the country mannerisms about him," fullback C.J. Ham said. "He doesn't say much on the field but when you look at him, you see that he's locked-in."

Chandler played 35% of Minnesota's offensive snaps in Week 2. It mirrored his usage in the season opener at New York. His weekly touches to date are close to equal with eight rushes and three catches in Week 1.

The difference is Chandler churned out yards on the ground, averaging 8.2 against the 49ers after 2.1 at the Giants. He was grooving last Sunday as soon as he touched it, inflating a string of carries by breaking free for 25 on a smartly executed bounce-out that transformed a play designed to be run between the tackles.

"It was nothing unexpected from Ty," Vikings Offensive Coordinator Wes Phillips said of Chandler finding his rhythm as soon as he spelled Aaron Jones, Sr. "I really like the 1-2 punch we've got going with Aaron and Ty. They have some similar skill sets, but also there's a difference in how each one hits the hole. I think they bring a little something different to the defense – I don't know if I can even pinpoint it exactly."

"I don't think I really can either," Ham agreed with Phillips. "I think Aaron and Ty are both explosive and can take it to the house at any time. I would say maybe the way Aaron runs is he's a little more of a slasher. Ty is a bit of a slasher, too, but he's more so just like, 'Hey, I'm running downhill. Boom! Boom!' Whereas Aaron is kind of weaving his way through things and figuring it out. So Aaron is more of a slasher. Ty is more of a downhill, one-cut-and-explode type of guy — however you want to word that."

Ham nailed it.

"When my number is called, I want to go out and make plays," Chandler added in Sunday's aftermath. "I want to be a scat back, and I want to be a power back, you know what I'm saying? Best of both worlds."

He finished each run with a forward lean that was critical to softening San Francisco's defense.

"Ty is kind of quiet, doesn't say much, a little reserved," Jones commented, "but his running style is the complete opposite. He gets in the open field and has a 1-on-1, he may make a move on you, or he may lower his pads, and that's what he did last weekend. He lowered his pads, and that kind of set the tone."

Chandler has a history of waiting for his moment and capitalizing on it.

He led his team in rushing yards twice – but carries only once – in four seasons at the University of Tennessee, maxing out at 655 yards on 135 attempts in 2019. The next year, he sat shotgun in the order.

And then Chandler transferred to North Carolina to try and replicate the enormous rushing success of NFL draft picks Michael Carter and Javonte Williams. Finally the feature back, Chandler exploded for 1,092 yards on the ground plus 216 through the air with 14 touchdowns. A healthy 6.6 yards per touch.

"I remember watching Ty back in college," left tackle Christian Darrisaw shared. "I already knew he was a special back. … I'm happy for him, man, he's finally getting those touches that he's earned and deserves. He's out there showing everyone else that he can do what we already knew he had the ability to do."

Chandler and Jones are making life less complicated so far on Darrisaw and the Vikings offensive line.

"They do a tremendous job of setting up our blocks for us and then reading those backers and making those cuts," noted Darrisaw, highlighting the duo's capacity to get loose in the second level even in the instance of a failed assignment. "Those backs, they've got the explosiveness, the one-cut ability just to hit it and make a dude miss. Having backs like that helps. We love it. Hopefully we keep toting this thing."

Chandler enjoyed a similar explosion in 2023 when former Vikings running back Alexander Mattison couldn't play due to injury Week 15 at Cincinnati. In his first start, Chandler ran 23 times for 132 yards.

"I think Ty really grew up a bunch down the stretch last year," Vikings Head Coach Kevin O'Connell said Wednesday, a reminder that Chandler had 53 rushes for 258 yards (4.9 avg.) across the final four games. "We always wanted to have him involved in the game plans every week, but it just started to show up."

"It" being Chandler's physicality, burst and athleticism.

"Ty's first step is crazy," Gaskin exclaimed this week. "He might have the best first step on the team."

"One-hundred percent," Ham confirmed without the slightest hesitation. "I would agree."

Chandler won last year's "BGO" (ball get-off) competition, which tests players' explosiveness in a five-yard race. The Vikings kept a tally of winners and Chandler had the most at the end of the season.

Chandler prides himself on his first couple steps. Obviously, it's essential to his runs, but it also benefits him catching balls out of the backfield and getting set for success in pass protection. It's a constant focus.

Like everything else.

After a deliberate offseason of sharpening his skills, Chandler is ready to thrive.

"I'm probably the hardest person on myself," Chandler said Thursday. "I try to look at different elements of my game that need to be improved and that's what I attack. I work on something every day because there ain't a time where ain't nobody else getting better. I just want to be ready when my time comes."

Through two games, Chandler has produced 124 yards from scrimmage (99 rushing, 25 receiving). Jones has out touched him 30 to 21 with practically identical results, each player averaging 5.9 yards per touch.

They complement each other. They push each other.

"Aaron is as hard a worker, as good a person, as talented a back as you're going to have as a guy to kind of look up to, and Ty was on that path already, but when you get a guy who's done it and done it at a high level for as long as Aaron has," Phillips said on the insight Jones dispenses, "I think it just helps Ty that much more in his development. We feel really confident [with] whichever back is in the game."

Chandler's not a backup per se in that room. He's an explosive play in waiting, able to take on a double-digit mix of carries and catches – he's done so eight times in the 13 games he's played 10-plus offensive snaps.

In Week 1, on Chandler's second play, he zipped out of the backfield on a route when the Vikings were pinned at their own 2-yard line and turned a short catch into a first down, enabling Sam Darnold to target Justin Jefferson for a gain of 44 during a 99-yard drive. Phillips tipped his cap to Chandler's speed and explosiveness. He had two other catches, including one for 10 in the fourth quarter.

"Whatever situation I'm in, I like to be able to get in and execute it to the best of my ability," Chandler described his versatility. "I try to be a patient back – see things for what they are and let them develop."

In Week 2, Chandler inflicted all his damage on the ground – most of it instantaneously.

He gained 7, 5 and 25 yards consecutively when he subbed in for Jones with 6:36 left in the first half. Chandler's contrails were bright white. He wasn't gassed. He said he could have handled a fourth straight carry. Chandler relies on his training to keep his conditioning up "but then sometimes your adrenaline keeps you going."

"When he's decisive in what he does, that's when he plays his best ball, and you saw it on Sunday," said Ham, citing the 25-yarder as the perfect example. "He made the one decisive cut outside and took off."

One reason the Jones-Chandler tandem works well is because they're both hot to trot on game day.

"I feel like neither one of us are volume-touch guys," said Jones, who is tied for ninth in NFL annals with 5.1 yards per rush (a rank that includes four quarterbacks), expounding that maximization of chances is more important than stressing over them. "That's something that I've echoed to Ty. … 'You don't know how many touches you're going to get, but don't go into the game worried about how many touches you're going to get. Worry about if I do get a touch, I'm going to make the most of it.' He's been doing that, so I'm super proud of Ty."

Chandler is aware of how good he's got it – that his growth can be accelerated with Jones' help.

"We come in every day, even in the meeting rooms, and he gives me great coaching points about how he sees the game and what he might see on a certain play," Chandler shared. "It's always good knowledge to obtain and absorb. He's always dropping gems. He's a vet, dawg, he's been doing it a long time.

"That's why I've got all these gray hairs," he added, motioning to his head. "I'm gaining some wisdom."

A left-side handoff to Chandler with 4:47 remaining in Minnesota's home opener, with the Vikings knocking in the red zone, illustrates more accurately than words explain what he brings to the table.

He followed his blocks, bolting for the edge. He resembled a bighorn sheep, tearing up a runway of green grass and lowering his shoulder pads to disperse punishment on 49ers defender Deommodore Lenoir.

Boom!

"I thought Ty finished really – physically – really strong last week and it showed up in yards after contact," Phillips said, "getting a little more than we thought down in the red zone, 1-on-1 with the corner, and he kind of bulls his way to get the first down; some really good finishes by Ty last week."

Coaches also showed their trust in Chandler to make a safe decision with the football on an ensuing trick play in the red zone. He took a handoff and rolled to the right, with the Vikings giving a look of a run while maintaining the opportunity to throw the football. Tight end Johnny Mundt, however, got held up by the defense, and the refs allowed the contact because they thought it was a run. Instead of forcing a bad throw, Chandler protected the pigskin and was sacked for a loss of 1.

O'Connell said he should have alerted the refs to the trick play before the snap; Phillips said "Ty made a great decision."

"It's hard for refs, I think, to sometimes recognize that's a pass and you can't grab them like that down the field," Phillips said. "We kind of talked to those guys when we're putting the ball in your hands like this, 'We're trusting you to make a good decision.' We didn't try to bring the X [receiver] backside to the party or anything. Didn't want anything crazy thrown across his body or anything, so we trusted him to actually call the play, and he kind of rewarded us with making a really good decision."

Bashing and bashful. Quiet and violent. Speed and power. Decisive in his course and disciplined. The best of both worlds, for sure.

"He's all about his business, man, similar to me. Don't really ever say too much. Just go out there and let that play talk for you," Darrisaw remarked. "He's out there running through things, and we love it."

"It was a lot of fun to see him out there on Sunday, just having a day," said Jones, eyeballing future backfield fortune. "I told him we're going to need some more of that, and both of us are going to get going."

Maybe that begins with a swift breakaway or crashing in for a "Bank Vault" celebration that Jones hopes occurs against the Texans.

"I like that, man," Chandler heard Jones' end-zone plans and grinned. "It's always a party at the Bank.

"I ain't never done too much after a touchdown. I have to put something together for when I touch paint. I don't know. We'll have to see what I come up with," he said, and paused. "May not be anything."