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 Sunday in leading the Rams to a 16-0 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs at Kansas City.

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

The Rams paid $9 million for three years to Chris Miller to leave Atlanta and become their starting quarterback, but Miller suffered injured ribs and a pinched nerve in his shoulder after guiding the team to a 1-2 start.

Miller’s ribs are fine now, Knox said, and Miller showed up Monday 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 sound and he is also 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, one a 72-yard touchdown pass play to Flipper Anderson. He threw no interceptions 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, and he pushed the organization into signing him during the off-season when Jack Trudeau was also on the list for consideration.

When Miller suffered his rib injury, he required three pain-killing injections to play against the Falcons. He took an additional shot before the game against San Francisco, and at that time Knox began to become seriously concerned about his starting quarterback.

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

Miller, however, insisted last week 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.

Miller had completed 43.6% of his passes before being sent to the sideline, and although he has the same number of touchdown passes as Chandler--two--he has four more interceptions.

And it was Chandler who earned the team a day off.

“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. . . .”