ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Kurt Warner is doing for Arena Football what Doug Flutie did for the Canadian Football League.

The surprising star quarterback of the 3-0 St. Louis Rams was a record-setter indoors long before he began putting up big numbers on the big stage.

Now that he's the first NFL quarterback to throw three touchdown passes in each of his first three starts, Warner also is proving Arena Football doesn't have to be a dead-end job.

On Sunday, as the Rams and San Francisco 49ers (3-1) play for first place in the NFC West, Warner will face another quarterback who traveled the back roads to the NFL.

Like Flutie, the 49ers' Jeff Garcia carved a niche with five seasons in the CFL, leading the Calgary Stampeders to the 1998 Grey Cup.

"They always harp on, `We need a guy with more experience,"' Warner said. "Well, we have experience. Even though it's not at the NFL level, we've had a lot of games and played in a lot of different situations, and now we're just transferring that over to the NFL."

Warner had 183 touchdown passes with the Iowa Barnstormers from 1995-97. Then he led NFL Europe in yards passing, attempts, completions and touchdowns in 1998 for the Amsterdam Admirals.

Rams coach Dick Vermeil likes to say he always knew he had a potential star on his hands. But initially he was as skeptical as the rest, starting 36-year-old Steve Bono after a season-ending injury to Tony Banks in Week 14 last year instead of taking a look at the unknown guy.

Warner, 28, held a clipboard as the third-string quarterback most of the season and belatedly got a shot in the finale, going 4-for-11 for 39 yards in a mop-up role in a 19-point loss in San Francisco. Then, for the final indignity, the Rams exposed him in the expansion draft.

Warner probably would still be one of the NFL's most obscure backups were it not for the season-ending knee injury to Trent Green, the Rams' prize free-agent pickup, in the third preseason game.

"Kurt is the man, if you really want to know who the man is," said receiver Az-Zahir Hakim, who caught three touchdown passes and ran a punt back 84 yards for a fourth last week against Cincinnati.

There's a school of thought that Warner's weaknesses will be exposed sooner or later as more game tape becomes available for opponents. Vermeil disagrees.

"When you book a quarterback, you have to include the personnel around him," Vermeil said. "He's getting the ball to everybody. The book includes more chapters and you'd better read them all because they can all make plays."

The 49ers' version of Warner is Garcia, who accounted for three touchdowns in a 24-22 victory over Tennessee last week and probably will make his second straight start for the 49ers (3-1). Steve Young was expected to sit out one more week with a concussion.

"It's difficult for me to see him lay on the field," coach Steve Mariucci said. "That's my worst nightmare."

Garcia had 111 touchdown passes in five CFL seasons. This season, he has completed 64.6 percent, with two touchdowns and one interception.

"Even though we weren't really brought up right out of college, we've been on the field playing and growing and getting experience, instead of sitting," Garcia said, referring to Warner. "It was definitely a situation where we helped ourselves by playing and allowing our instincts to take over."

The 49ers have won 17 straight in the series, the second-longest run in NFL history. The Rams haven't beaten them since Nov. 25, 1990, a 28-17 victory at Candlestick Park, and last won at home on Sept. 14, 1986.

The vast majority lately have been lopsided, with 38-19 and 30-10 scores last year. The 49ers did a lot to squash the Rams in 1995, their first season in St. Louis, by 44-10 and 41-13 after the Rams had begun the year 4-0.

San Francisco also has won twice in recent seasons with backup quarterbacks, Elvis Grbac in 1995 and Jim Druckenmiller in 1997.

Vermeil's response to the history lesson: There are only eight players left from his first Rams team, in 1997, so it's not the current team's problem.

"It's not a personal vendetta or an organization vendetta," Vermeil said. "I don't feel responsible for the 17-game losing streak, nor do our players. We do feel responsible for ending it."

SAN FRANCISCO Season schedule and results

ST. LOUIS Season schedule and results

September 12 @Jacksonville L 3-41 September 19 New Orleans W 28-21 September 27 @Arizona W 24-10 October 3 Tennessee W 24-22 October 10 @St. Louis 1:00pm ET October 17 Carolina 4:15pm ET October 24 @Minnesota 1:00pm ET November 7 Pittsburgh 4:15pm ET November 14 @New Orleans 1:00pm ET November 21 St. Louis 4:15pm ET November 29 Green Bay 9:00pm ET December 5 @Cincinnati 1:00pm ET December 12 Atlanta 4:15pm ET December 18 @Carolina 4:15pm ET December 26 Washington 8:20pm ET January 3 @Atlanta 9:00pm ET

September 12 Baltimore W 27-10 September 26 Atlanta W 35-7 October 3 @Cincinnati W 38-10 October 10 San Francisco 1:00pm ET October 17 @Atlanta 1:00pm ET October 24 Cleveland 1:00pm ET October 31 @Tennessee 1:00pm ET November 7 @Detroit 1:00pm ET November 14 Carolina 1:00pm ET November 21 @San Francisco 4:15pm ET November 28 New Orleans 1:00pm ET December 5 @Carolina 1:00pm ET December 12 @New Orleans 1:00pm ET December 19 NY Giants 1:00pm ET December 26 Chicago 1:00pm ET January 2 @Philadelphia 1:00pm ET

Records source: STATS, Inc.

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