SANTA CLARA, Calif. — No team has played a higher profile schedule than the San Francisco 49ers.

It started with one of the marquee matchups of opening week — a trip to Dallas to face the longtime rival Cowboys — followed by the Sunday night, nationally televised debut of their $1.2 billion stadium against the Chicago Bears.

Then came a trip to Arizona to deal with an unbeaten (at the time) division rival, and has continued to capture national attention the past two weeks with a pair of matchups with arguably the top two active running backs in the league — LeSean McCoy and the Philadelphia Eagles and Jamaal Charles and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Next up: the St. Louis Rams. Yes, finally a chance to exhale.

And being that it’s a Monday night game, the 49ers even will get an extra day to do so.

49ers coach Jim Harbaugh recognizes a trap when he sees one. Six of the first words out of his mouth in addressing the media in the wake of the Kansas City win were, “We’re onto the Rams. Big game.”

If the Rams have done anything this season to capture the 49ers’ attention, it occurred in their last two games.

It wasn’t just that they lost tight games to a pair of quality NFC East opponents, falling 34-31 to the Dallas Cowboys and 34-28 to the Philadelphia Eagles. It was the means by which they made those games competitive.

As a run-first club last season, the Rams couldn’t dent the San Francisco defense. The result: 35-11 and 23-13 defeats.

But the Rams have taken a different approach to this season. They are now a passing team, one that has achieved elite-level numbers their last two times out.

Austin Davis has been brilliant in subbing for injured Sam Bradford. He threw for three touchdowns in each of the past two games, scorching the Cowboys for 327 yards and the Eagles for 375.

And if you’re going to attack the 49ers, doing it through the air has the most proven success. They have surrendered 1,045 yards and nine touchdowns in the passing game this season, and just 369 yards and one score via the run.

Maybe the 49ers should take this game seriously after all.

SERIES HISTORY: 130th regular-season meeting. 49ers lead series, 64-62-3. Remarkably, the rivals since 1950 each had the same number of wins (62) before the 49ers dominated both of last year’s head-to-heads, winning 35-11 in St. Louis early in the season and 23-13 in San Francisco late. Clearly, 2013 was the exception rather than the rule. Just how tightly fought the matchup has been was demonstrated one year earlier, when both games went into overtime, with the Rams prevailing once and the other game finishing in a tie. The teams have met in the postseason just once in all those years, a 30-3 49ers romp on Jan. 14, 1990.

–ILB NaVorro Bowman will not be activated from the Physically Unable to Perform list when eligible next week, 49ers defensive coordinator Vic Fangio acknowledged this week. In fact, Fangio said the standout’s return would likely be “later rather than sooner,” an indication Bowman could be out until December. The NFL deadline for activating a player from the PUP list is Nov. 24.

–OT Anthony Davis disclosed his injured knee is actually a sprained MCL that could keep him out of action a while. Davis suffered the injury in his season debut in Week 4 against the Philadelphia Eagles. He did not practice Wednesday and is out indefinitely.

GAME PLAN: The 49ers have been susceptible to letdowns this season, especially after building first-half leads. Now, coming off nail-biting wins over the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs, they must avoid similar flatness coming out of the locker room to start this week’s game against far and away the weakest opponent they have faced this season, the St. Louis Rams. The fact the 49ers blew out the Rams to the tune of 58-24 in two games last year surely will not help them get excited about this season’s first head-to-head.

MATCHUPS TO WATCH:

–49ers run defense vs. Rams RB Zac Stacy. The 49ers shut down Philadelphia Eagles standout LeSean McCoy two weeks ago, and minimized Kansas City Chiefs star Jamaal Charles’ damage last week. Now they get a bit of a breather against a guy who has yet to recapture any of the form that produced four 100-yard rushing efforts in the Rams’ final nine games last season. Stacy is averaging just 55.8 yards per game this year. The 49ers have allowed the second-fewest number of yards rushing (310) among teams who have played five games. The Rams, meanwhile, have just 335 rushing yards this season, the sixth-worst figure in the NFL.

–49ers CB Perrish Cox vs. Rams WR Brian Quick. The 49ers have struggled some against tall wideouts. Quick not only is tall (6-feet-5), but he’s hot, having scored three touchdowns in the Rams’ last two games. Quick had a touchdown catch the last time the 49ers saw the Rams, but he’s much improved this year, having recorded at least 62 yards in receptions in every St. Louis game to date.

–49ers special teams vs. Rams PR Tavon Austin. The speedy Austin hasn’t busted one yet this season. In fact, he has been pretty much completely kept under wraps, totaling just 30 yards on eight punt returns. But he had close to a 10-yard average and a touchdown last season, and the 49ers demonstrated a vulnerability last week in allowing the Kansas City Chiefs’ De’Anthony Thomas to break a 28-yarder and average 19 yards on two runbacks. The 49ers re-signed special-teams ace Bubba Ventrone this week in an effort to shore up the coverage.