SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Rookie Jeff Chandler was named the San Francisco 49ers' starting kicker on Wednesday by coach Steve Mariucci, who demoted Jose Cortez after two costly missed field goals in the past three weeks.

	Cortez

Chandler, a fourth-round draft pick from Florida who has been inactive all season, will make his NFL debut on Monday night against Philadelphia in the swirling winds of Candlestick Park.

"I'm excited about it, and I'm ready for it,'' Chandler said. "You don't get a bigger stage than that.''

The 49ers decided to keep Cortez on their active roster, however. San Francisco has carried two kickers all season since Cortez won a training-camp battle with Chandler, who has a three-year contract.

Mariucci's decision came three days after Cortez missed a 41-yard field goal attempt in the 49ers' 20-17 overtime loss to San Diego last Sunday. Cortez also missed a 27-yard attempt on the final play of regulation two weeks earlier against Oakland, though San Francisco won that game in overtime on Cortez's 23-yarder in overtime.

"I felt that Jose seems to be in a bit of a slump,'' Mariucci said. "He knows that. He feels that, and he's trying to work it out, but because he's in a slump, Jeff is going to get an opportunity.''

Mariucci clearly loathed the necessity of changing kickers during the season. He had uniformly backed Cortez during all of his struggles during 1½ seasons as the 49ers' kicker, and he was uncharacteristically glum and brisk when speaking about the change.

"We just had to make a decision on who might give us the best chance to win games,'' Mariucci said. "We have a guy sitting here waiting in the wings who can be a professional kicker. I have all the confidence in the world that he can get it done.''

The kicking controversy has been a time-consuming drain on the otherwise successful 49ers (7-3), who would have matched Green Bay and Tampa Bay for the NFL's best record if Cortez hadn't missed his overtime kick against San Diego. The 49ers elected not to bring in any free agent kickers to contend for the job.

On Monday, quarterback Jeff Garcia criticized general manager Terry Donahue's strategy of keeping two kickers on the active roster all season. While Donahue always wanted to have a backup plan for the inconsistent Cortez, Garcia feels the plan hurts both kickers' confidence.

Chandler is thrilled for the opportunity but sad for Cortez, who has become one of his closest friends on the team. They hung out together with several teammates last Monday night for an evening of video games and miniature golf, and they didn't discuss the possibility of a change.

But Chandler had been preparing himself to take over the job ever since he saw Cortez's kick sail wide against the Chargers. Cortez made 13 straight field goals earlier this season, but he has hit a skid that's remarkably similar to the one he hit midway through his rookie season.

"I just thought the circumstances surrounding that kick ... I didn't know what was going to happen,'' Chandler said. "I started preparing myself to play. Whether it happened or not, I just wanted to be ready. That's the whole thing about being a backup. You try to look at the guy in front of you and see how mistakes are made and how to correct that.''

Chandler hasn't played in 2½ months, but he'll get all of the kicks during special teams practices on Thursday and Friday.

His parents, who already had planned to fly in from Jacksonville, Fla., for the Thanksgiving holiday, now will get to see their son's debut -- in the throwback 1980s uniforms that the 49ers will be wearing in Monday night's game, no less.

"They haven't told me what they have in mind, but if I go out there and do my job, I don't think they'll have to make a change for the rest of the year,'' Chandler said.