SAN FRANCISCO — The favorable impression that Aaron Rodgers left five nights earlier against the Cincinnati Bengals evaporated Saturday night at Candlestick Park in the Green Bay Packers' 34-6 exhibition shelling at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers.

Playing the entire first half, Rodgers was indecisive in the pocket, failed to make a play that counted and paled in comparison to 49ers starter J.T. O'Sullivan, of all people.

"It's pretty bad when J.T. O'Sullivan is outdoing you," one personnel man said at halftime, and it most assuredly was.

The Packers, playing without four starters due to injury, are off to their first 0-2 exhibition start since 1993. San Francisco, which was missing two starters, is 1-1.

There were perhaps 25,000 fans in attendance on a beautiful evening at the 69,732-seat stadium, which opened in 1971.

Rodgers finished with a passer rating of 64.1 one week after registering 79.0 against the Bengals. He hit nine of 16 for 58 yards and was sacked four times.

"I'm just glad we're not in that situation," said another scout for a team with an established quarterback.

In his defense, Rodgers was victimized by a receiving corps that continued to drop the ball. The Packers played without injured Greg Jennings and Ruvell Martin.

It might have been a different story if Donald Driver had hung on to a deep pass at the 49ers' 35 — 38 yards down the field — on the Packers' fourth play from scrimmage. Or, for that matter, if Donald Lee hadn't dropped what should have been an easy 13-yard touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone.

But when those two throws didn't materialize, the Rodgers-led offense was rendered null and void by a 49ers defense that is trying to rebuild with some high-priced free agents.

The 49ers' defense showed its intentions on the first play when defensive coordinator Greg Manusky sent a six-man blitz at Rodgers. He got the ball out to Driver for a 5-yard completion after LB Parys Haralson knocked him down.

In all, Rodgers was sacked four times for minus-26 yards and was knocked down three other times.

"He had pretty good time," one scout said. "He was looking downfield but it was like he wasn't really seeing."

If Rodgers was losing his composure it wasn't obvious. He continued managing the game, drawing the 49ers offside three times with his cadence.

Later in the Packers' eight-play first possession, Rodgers waited too long and took a ferocious hit from cornerback Shawntae Spencer, who had time to sprint in untouched on a delayed blitz.

"He had never been in that situation before," another scout said. "The 49ers threw a lot of stuff at him. Too much for an exhibition. They were really trying to make plays."

The longer the first half went on, the worse Rodgers played, one of the personnel men said.

In all, the Packers gained 46 yards and picked up four first downs under Rodgers. His longest completion was a 20-yard screen pass to Vernand Morency. Two of the first downs came on 49ers' offside infractions, and the fourth was a 13-yard pass to Lee on a bootleg.

Green Bay's only points in the first half came on Mason Crosby's 49-yard field goal. It came after O'Sullivan didn't see Charles Woodson drifting into a throwing lane and threw the ball right to him for an interception. On the next play, Lee dropped the pass behind linebacker Takeo Spikes.

Not only did Rodgers do a lot of hesitating, he also took some risks. On a screen pass that the 49ers clearly had diagnosed, he threw back into traffic anyway and was fortunate not to be intercepted.

Late in the second quarter, Rodgers threw an errant sideline pass for Driver that should have been intercepted by safety Dashon Goldson, but the ball was dropped.

Two plays later, Rodgers scrambled on third and 4. With the marker in front of him and a good chance to gain the necessary yardage, he went out of bounds without being hit after a gain of 3.

"That was probably the worst thing he did," one scout said.

Although Rodgers at times did have that classic "deer in the headlights" look in the pocket, he certainly didn't benefit from the play of his offensive line.

On the first series, defensive end Ray McDonald lined up over left guard Jason Spitz on first and 10 and beat him inside for a 7-yard sack. Later in the first quarter, McDonald bull-rushed Spitz for a 6-yard sack.

In the second quarter, the 49ers rushed four and Rodgers had more than enough time. But he held the ball too long and was sacked for minus-4.

And on his second-last series, Rodgers seemed to have little chance on a 9-yard sack when defensive tackle Walter Curry overpowered Spitz and Scott Wells.

On defense, the Packers weren't stout against the run and kept giving up third-down completions by O'Sullivan, a modestly talented free agent with minimal arm strength who was with the Packers for the last three months of 2004.

When the 49ers finally scored, it was thanks to completions measuring 27 and 22 yards, both with nickel back Jarrett Bush in coverage.

With 58 seconds remaining, the Packers blew a coverage on the left side where Nick Collins and Bush were positioned and rookie Josh Morgan hauled in a 59-yard touchdown pass.

The 49ers' third touchdown came late in the third quarter on Moran Norris' 1-yard run. It followed a 7-yard pass interference penalty against Bush in the corner against free agent Cam Colvin.