J.T. O'Sullivan will start at quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers when the NFL regular season begins next month.

O'Sullivan clinched the job with a strong performance during Thursday night's 37-30 exhibition victory over Chicago, and 49ers coach Mike Nolan said it was time to make O'Sullivan's status official after a summer of uncertainty.

"J.T. O'Sullivan will be our starting quarterback going into the season and I'm expecting him to succeed," Nolan said yesterday. "I'm very confident J.T. is at the point where he's our best man for the job right now."

O'Sullivan, a long shot to become the starter when training camp began at the end of July, overtook veteran holdovers Alex Smith and Shaun Hill during the past two weeks. The sixth-year player, now with his eighth NFL team, has never started a regular-season game in the league.

That is about to change.

O'Sullivan was picked to start San Francisco's preseason opener Aug. 8 against Oakland and has been practicing and playing with the first unit since. He didn't take any snaps in 11-on-11 team drills during the first seven days of training camp as Smith and Hill got all the work.

But both players struggled to grasp new offensive coordinator Mike Martz's complex system, and O'Sullivan was given a chance in the lead role earlier this month.

O'Sullivan worked in Martz's system last year when both were with the Detroit Lions. He played in four games with the Lions last season and threw the first regular-season passes of his NFL career.

He moved the offense during San Francisco's first two preseason games and then had a stellar performance during Thursday's win in Chicago. He completed 7 of 8 passes for 126 yards and guided San Francisco on scoring drives each of his three series.

O'Sullivan signed a one-year deal for the veteran's minimum salary of $645,000.

The 49ers invested $24 million in guaranteed money in Smith as part of a $49.5 million deal when they made him the No. 1 overall selection in the 2005 draft. They signed Hill to a $6 million contract this year after he went 2-0 as a starter last December.

ELSEWHERE

Upshaw remembered: Hall of Fame player and longtime NFL union head Gene Upshaw will be remembered this weekend with a moment of silence at NFL exhibition games. Upshaw, who served as the executive director of the NFL Players Association for 25 years, died Wednesday night of pancreatic cancer at his home near California's Lake Tahoe, just days after learning he had the disease. He was 63.

Lions: Detroit has signed quarterback Drew Henson, a high school and college standout who has struggled at the professional level in baseball and football. Terms of the signing, announced on the team's Web site, weren't disclosed. Henson, 28, was signed after second-year quarterback Drew Stanton sprained the thumb on his throwing hand in practice Thursday. He will be sidelined about a month.

Seahawks: Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck likely will miss Seattle's preseason game Monday at San Diego and probably won't see any action until the regular season because of ongoing back stiffness. Hasselbeck has been Seattle's starter since 2001.

Bills: Buffalo starting quarterback Trent Edwards won't play in tomorrow night's preseason game against the Indianapolis Colts because of a bruise above his right kneecap.