Chiefs Quite a Challenge for Chandler : Pro football: With Miller sidelined, burden of facing Kansas City defense falls on shoulders of the Rams’ backup.

The injured Chris Miller sat useless in the locker beside that of Chris Chandler, the next victim assigned hazardous duty as starting quarterback behind the Rams’ offensive line.

Chandler was late arriving in the locker room because he had asked offensive tackles Clarence Jones, Wayne Gandy and Jackie Slater to remain after practice for additional work. No coaches had thought about giving the team’s offensive linemen post-practice tutoring, but Chandler had watched Miller take a beating and now must play in his place against the hard-charging Kansas City Chiefs today.

Derrick Thomas vs. Clarence Jones? The potential for mayhem brings tears to the eyes. Neil Smith vs. Wayne Gandy? Is it too early to start having Tommy Maddox warm up?

“You’re always concerned and hoping it doesn’t happen,” Chandler said, directing his attention to Miller and Miller’s sore shoulder and painful ribs. “Chris will be the first to tell you, all you can do is take your reads down the field and trust them up front. Once you start looking at your linemen and not where you’re supposed to, you got double trouble.

“These guys we’re going to play are about as good as any out there, but I just got to have faith in our people that they are going to do their job. We’ll see what happens.”

Thomas, who is second in the AFC behind Bruce Smith with four sacks, needs three more to become the Chiefs’ all-time leader, surpassing Art Still, who had 72 1/2. Smith, who will be matched early against Slater before getting a shot at Gandy, has two sacks this season and 59 in his career.

“Thomas is unbelievable,” said Ram Coach Chuck Knox, who watched Thomas pile up eight sacks in one game against the Knox-coached Seahawks. “We gave up eight sacks that game, but we were fortunate to come back and score and win it with time running out.”

Find a way--any way--to win, that’s the Rams’ theme for success this week.

The facts suggest implementation of such a plan is impossible:

--The Chiefs, who are trying to start 4-0 for the first time in franchise history, have the better defense, two of the game’s best pass rushers in Smith and Thomas, and an NFL-leading mark of 14 takeaways (interceptions and fumble recoveries).

--The Chiefs’ offense, which ranks sixth overall, has Joe Montana at quarterback and Marcus Allen ready to score if Kansas City gets a sniff of the goal line.

“I’ll tell you what,” Knox said. “They are the best team I’ve seen on film, by far.”

The Chiefs (3-0) will be trying to complete a sweep of NFC West opponents when they take on the Rams, while maintaining the national hope that they are the team to replace the Buffalo Bills in this year’s Super Bowl.

To guard against a letdown, the Chiefs have been reminded about an upsetting loss to Chicago in Arrowhead Stadium a year ago, which ultimately gave the Bills home-field advantage in the AFC championship game.

“We feel we’re fortunate, because we haven’t really played as well as we’re capable of playing,” said Kansas City Coach Marty Schottenheimer. “Things are only going to get more difficult.”

This week the Chiefs have the Rams, next week they draw a bye, and how tough is that? The Rams are 1-2 for the fifth consecutive season, and besides Miller, will be without starting left guard Keith Loneker and Darryl Ashmore, who has taken the bulk of playing time at right tackle. Loneker has a foot injury, Ashmore a knee problem.

“We need to force some turnovers, we sure do, there’s no question about that,” Knox said. “It’s going to be a tough, tough football game for us, but we just have to play hard and make some plays.”

The Chiefs’ success has been tied directly to their ability to force turnovers, while protecting the ball on offense. Kansas City has the best takeaway/giveaway ratio in the NFL the last four years and once again leads the league in that category.

“They don’t give the ball away,” said Ram cornerback Darryl Henley. “Watch Montana on videotape--the ball is always there.”

Montana, who has completed 64.4% of his passes in previous assignments against the Rams, with 37 touchdowns and 15 interceptions, has led the Chiefs to six victories without a defeat while playing in Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs have won 16 of their last 18 home games.

A sellout crowd of 79,907 contributed noise to the Chiefs’ 24-17 victory over San Francisco two weeks ago and was credited with disrupting the 49ers’ offense by having the offensive line react slowly off the snap of the ball. Another sellout is anticipated for this game, and the Rams have made preparations along their offensive line to contend with the anticipated noise.

“It’s going to be a big test, handling the crowd noise,” Knox said. “Those people know when to make noise. We can’t get behind in the count, get an illegal procedure and get stuck with first and 15. We can’t get in those long-yardage situations where they can turn Derrick Thomas loose.

“Then the crowd gets whipped into a frenzy and you can’t hear. We have to try hard to control the game. The disadvantage is, you get your tackles out wide and they can’t hear, and the advantage you normally have on offense of knowing the snap count is gone. With the (rushers) they have, that’s tough for even the best tackles.”

Which might explain why Chandler had the guys up front stay after practice for some extrawork.

RAMS

TODAY’S GAME

* Opponent: Kansas City Chiefs.

* Site: Arrowhead Stadium.

* Time: 10 a.m. PDT.

* Records: Rams 1-2, Chiefs 3-0.

* TV: Channel 11.

* Radio: KMPC (710).

* Rosters: C16.