Ty Chandler's heads-up return helps seal Vikings' first win of the season

Chandler's late kick return brought the clock past the two-minute warning, burning a clock stoppage that could have helped the Bears late in Monday night's 27-24 win over Chicago.

Ty Chandler (32) looking towards the Vikings sideline after receiving the kickoff deep in the end zone, late in Minnesota's 27-24 win. | ESPN

In a night filled with incredible late heroics and record-breaking performances, maybe the smartest play in the Vikings' 27-24 come-from-behind win against the Bears came courtesy of third-string running back Ty Chandler.

With just 2:02 left on the clock, Chicago's Caleb Williams connected with a wide-open Rome Odunze for a touchdown that, with the ensuing PAT conversion, brought the Bears to within three points of the Vikings. At that point in the game, Chicago just had one remaining timeout left to use, but they also had the oncoming two minute warning. With those two clock stoppages in his pocket, Ben Johnson could have greatly taken away the Vikings' ability to eat the clock.

However, that required his kicker Cairo Santos to boot the kickoff out of the back of the end zone for a touchback. Instead, Santos dropped the kick deep into the end zone, which saw Chandler team up with his head coach for a game-saving play.

Subscribe: Sign up for the free Vikings On SI newsletter

Chandler received the ball roughly eight yards deep into the end zone, normally a spot to kneel the ball down and take the touchback. Knowing they needed to push the clock past the two-minute mark, but perhaps freezing up in the moment, Chandler seemed to looked over to Kevin O'Connell for mid-play instruction. O'Connell was seen on ESPN cameras waving Chandler forward, to come out with the ball and run down the clock. He did just that and drove the clock down to 1:55, taking out the chance for the Bears to utilize the two-minute warning stoppage.

"You've got to return it. Try to get it under the two-minute. I know for a fact that (special teams coordinator) Matt Daniels was in the huddle, telling those guys that," said O'Connell in his postgame press conference. "I don't even know how deep it was. I didn't care."

Key moment as Kevin O’Connell directs Ty Chandler to return the kickoff out of the end zone to run clock to two-minute warning.

MINvsCHI on ESPN/ABC
Stream on @NFLPlus and ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/JMjLsYMxKx

— NFL (@NFL) September 9, 2025

When asked what the plan was for his team on the kickoff, Bears head coach Ben Johnson simply stated, "The intent was for the ball to go out of the end zone." If Santos was unable to get it out of the end zone, he should've just kicked it out of bounds, which would've accomplished the same goal.

The Vikings ended up going three-and-out on the ensuing drive but were able to take another 1:46 off the clock. Chicago got the ball back with just nine seconds left on the clock and had to start their drive back at their own 20-yard line. Two failed plays later, the Vikings walked away with their first win of the season.

"You never want your players looking over at me during the play, but once he did it was, 'Yeah, get out and secure the football for sure,'" continued O'Connell. "That allowed us to take it all the way down there. And I think there was half the stadium there at the line of scrimmage during that (two-minute) drive. And rightly so, they were just trying to get it back."

"We felt like if we had kicked it out of the end zone and gotten the three-and-out that we got, we would get the ball back with around 56 seconds," said Johnson.

---