Chandler Sitting Pretty : Rams: He appears to have earned the starting job over Miller with victory over the Chiefs.

Chuck Knox, who gave his players Monday off for “maybe only the second time” in his 21 years as a head coach, will maintain the suspense until Wednesday: Who will be the starting quarterback against the Atlanta Falcons?

Best guess: Chris Chandler.

Chandler, who signed for $600,000 to be a backup quarterback this season, played mistake-free football--that’s Chuck Knox football--Sunday in leading the Rams to a 16-0 victory over the Chiefs in Kansas City.

“I would rate his performance as a top performance,” Knox said.

The Rams gave a $9-million, three-year contract to Chris Miller to leave Atlanta and become their starting quarterback, but Miller hurt his ribs and then suffered a pinched nerve in his shoulder after guiding the team to a 1-2 start.

Miller’s ribs are fine now, Knox said, and Monday Miller showed up at Rams Park to play catch with wide receiver Richard Buchanan.

“He’s improving,” Knox said. “He had the pinched nerve in his shoulder and the numbness and tingling down his arm. He had some swelling . . . but it’s subsided. Obviously the arm is not as strong as it will be after he gets some work in to build the strength back up.”

Chandler, however, is healthy and he is the quarterback who guided the Rams, two-touchdown underdogs, to victory.

“The quarterback was something special,” cornerback Todd Lyght said. “He showed a lot of leadership out there and played just a great game.”

Chandler completed 13 of 21 passes for 207 yards, including a 72-yard touchdown pass to Flipper Anderson. None of his passes were intercepted, and was sacked only once despite playing behind reserves Wayne Gandy and Chuck Belin.

“He made the right decisions,” Knox said. “He threw the ball away when he didn’t have the open receiver and he eluded the rush.”

Knox has always admired Chandler from afar, and he was the one who pushed the organization into signing him during the off-season when Jack Trudeau was also on the list for consideration.

After Miller injured his ribs, he required three pain-killing injections to play against the Falcons. He took an additional shot before the team’s game with San Francisco, and at that time Knox began to become seriously concerned with his starting quarterback.

Miller injured his shoulder against the 49ers and then kept the extent of his injury secret from Knox during the third quarter. That irritated Knox. A few days later, Knox announced that Chandler would start against the Chiefs, and some suggested the switch might not be temporary.

Miller, however, insisted last week that he would be ready for this week’s game, because after all it would be against his former employers.

Will such a circumstance influence Knox’s decision?

“No,” Knox said.

What will his decision be based on?

“We’ll make the decision based on what affords us the best opportunity to win the football game,” Knox said.

Presently, that’s Chandler, who has gained the confidence of his peers while standing tall at 1-0 as a starting quarterback for the Rams. In the locker room after Sunday’s game there was almost universal unsolicited praise for Chandler.

Miller, meanwhile, is still hurting. After throwing the ball with remarkable accuracy in training camp, Miller struggled in the last few exhibition games and then went into a tailspin when the games began to count.

His arm, as Knox pointed out, lacks the strength it would normally have, and who is going to mess with success? Miller was completing 43.6% of his passes before being sent to the sideline, and while he has the same number of touchdown passes as Chandler--two--he has four more interceptions.

A year ago at this time, the Rams were parked in the same situation, with Jim Everett coming off a splendid game. The Rams were 2-2 after upsetting Houston in the Astrodome. However, the team collapsed at home against New Orleans and lost, 37-6, and went on to lose four more games before finishing 5-11.

Unlike last year, however, Knox gave his team Monday off after shocking the opposition.

“The reason this thing came about is because we found out that Kansas City would get an extra day off if they won,” Knox said. “I just told my guys we would level the playing field and play for the same thing. They were ecstatic about it. They were in the locker room chanting, ‘Two days off.’ It’s just something you do . . .”

So there’s the secret, the motivation to push the Rams around the corner, a Monday off following each victory.

“No, no,” Knox said. “I didn’t say that.”

It’s still early in the week.