The Sports Xchange

Aaron Rodgers gladly ducked out of the limelight Sunday.

In fact, when asked after the unbeaten Packers’ 17-3 road win over the San Francisco 49ers about the challenges of playing in his native Northern California, Rodgers quipped, “I’m a proud resident of the state of Wisconsin, and I have a driver’s license from there, and I’m registered to vote there.”

Rodgers also is proud to have the Green Bay defense on his side.

The Packers’ notoriously maligned unit of recent years stood out in a very good way Sunday. Green Bay (4-0) sacked former nemesis Colin Kaepernick six times and held the 49ers to 196 total yards.

“When the defense is playing like that, we’re going to be tough to beat,” Rodgers asserted.

Despite a sluggish outing by its prolific offense after Rodgers directed a 12-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to start the game, the Packers notched a third straight double-digit victory.

This time, most of the credit fell to the defense, which completed what Rodgers termed a “pretty incredible” full week of two games with 13 sacks. Green Bay had seven in its 38-28 Monday night victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.

“We’re playing football the way we know how – that’s physical and efficient,” defensive lineman Mike Daniels said.

Defensive coordinator Dom Capers drew up a superb game plan to compound the early-season misery for Kaepernick in 2015 after he was next to unstoppable with his running prowess and strong arm in three straight wins against the Packers in the 2012 and ’13 seasons.

The Packers hemmed in Kaepernick in the pocket by loading the box, getting strong push up the middle and devouring the quarterback with pass rushers from both sides.

Besides taking the six sacks from five different Packers, Kaepernick completed only 13 of 25 passes for 160 yards with one interception (by cornerback Sam Shields). He had 57 yards on 10 rushing attempts for the 49ers, who were held to 77 yards on the ground.

“We did a great job of shutting down the type of offense that they like to run and forcing them to be one-dimensional,” said linebacker Clay Matthews, who had a visibly satisfying third-quarter sack, after which he kissed his right bicep to mock Kaepernick. “We have a very good pass-rush unit. I think you saw the sacks, quarterback hits and the pressures. It was not just one guy, but it was several.”

REPORT CARD VS. 49ERS

–PASSING OFFENSE: C. Aaron Rodgers still hasn’t thrown an interception this season. That’s astounding with the caliber of pass catchers he’s had available to him in the first three games, an ordinary performance with a few blemishes has to be expected. That’s what happened Sunday. Coming off a dandy of a 333-yard, five-touchdown performance in Green Bay’s Monday night win over the Kansas City Chiefs, Rodgers threw for just one touchdown and 224 yards on 22-of-32 accuracy against the 49ers. Make no mistake, though, the lone scoring pass, which came in the first possession of the game, was quintessential Rodgers as he bought all kinds of time moving around before threading a dart to heads-up tight end Richard Rodgers (five catches, 45 yards) gliding across the back of the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown. The second coming of James Jones in a Packers uniform continues to be nothing short of superb, as he led the Davante Adams-less receiver group with five receptions for 98 yards, highlighted by a catch-and-run gain of 36 yards and later an impressive snag of an Aaron Rodgers deep ball while tiptoeing along the sideline for 38 yards on third-and-7 to extend a third-quarter drive that ended with a pivotal touchdown for a 14-3 lead. On the downside, rookie wideout Ty Montgomery, who had an increased role with the injured Adams (ankle) sidelined, had a couple drops. What’s more, the 49ers sacked Rodgers three times, equaling his total from the first three games. Right tackle Don Barclay, who has been starting in place of an injured Bryan Bulaga the last three games, was beaten twice for sacks by outside linebacker Aaron Lynch.

–RUSHING OFFENSE: B. Able to contribute more again after being limited in the Week 3 game against the Chiefs because of a sprained ankle, lead back Eddie Lacy looked no worse for the wear in turning 18 carries into a season-high 90 yards. Lacy was at his best in the second half, when he rushed the football nine times for 55 yards to help the Packers protect the lead they held from early in the game. He had explosive runs of 12 and 15 yards those final two quarters. Late in the first half, Lacy converted a pair of fourth-and-1 plays with runs of 10 and six yards in a drive that fizzled with a missed field goal. Green Bay’s second touchdown came on a 1-yard plunge across the goal line by fullback John Kuhn on an inside handoff. The Packers’ season-best rushing output of 162 yards included 33 yards (long of 17) from a scrambling Aaron Rodgers. Change-of-pace back James Starks averaged only 3.1 yards per carry, finishing with 28 yards in nine rushes.

–PASS DEFENSE: A-minus. For the first time in four meetings going back to his breakout performance in the playoffs during the 2012 season, the Packers had the last laugh on Colin Kaepernick. What few times Kaepernick broke containment early in the game to make plays with his feet, he was downright brutal for long stretches the rest of the way. A concerted effort across the front line enabled Green Bay to sack Kaepernick six times, four in the second half. Outside linebacker Nick Perry had two of the takedowns but the contributions came from several sources, including the likes of nose tackle B.J. Raji and end Datone Jones’ rushing from the interior to wreak initial havoc so the outside rushers could converge on the overwhelmed Kaepernick. He completed only 13 of 25 passes for 160 yards without a touchdown. Throw in an interception by cornerback Sam Shields on an up-for-grabs deep ball in the second half, Kaepernick managed a miserable efficiency rating of 55.4. However, he did hook up with the speedy Quinton Patton for a 40-yard catch-and-run in the first half and then picked on rookie cornerback Damarious Randall for a 47-yard deep strike to Torrey Smith on third-and-10 with the 49ers in catch-up mode in the final quarter. Frustrated veteran wideout Anquan Boldin, a thorn for Green Bay in the past, was held to three catches for 12 yards in seven targets.

–RUSH DEFENSE: B-plus. Thanks to solid discipline out on the edges, the Packers never allowed Kaepernick to run wild on the read options that were more prevalent in the early going Sunday. Kaepernick pulled down the football 10 times and grounded out 57 yards, no carry longer than 12 yards. That was a significant victory for the defense. Green Bay’s stout play against the run the last three weeks also included a near-shutdown of Carlos Hyde. The 49ers’ bruising young back didn’t get the ball much. When he did, though, the Packers held him to all of 20 yards (long of seven) in eight carries. Safeties Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (team-high seven tackles) and Micah Hyde as well as inside linebacker Nate Palmer were physical playing close to the line of scrimmage.

–SPECIAL TEAMS: C. Mason Crosby took his first miss of the season, hooking a 44-yard field goal to the left at the end of the first half. Crosby redeemed himself by knocking through a 31-yarder late in the third quarter for the final points of the game. His deep kickoffs limited San Francisco to only one runback, which went for a pedestrian 20 yards. The 49ers averaged only four yards in their three punt returns on a busier-than-normal day for Packers punter Tim Masthay, who averaged just 39.2 gross yards and 37.2 net yards in six kicks. Green Bay didn’t have a kickoff return, and Hyde averaged only 4.7 yards (long of nine) in three runbacks on punts. The Packers committed three special-teams penalties in the first half.

–COACHING: A-minus. Defensive coordinator Dom Capers gained sweet revenge after enduring the string of horrendous performances by the defense against Kaepernick in previous meetings. Capers cut loose with a platoon of pass rushers, and the ambush from both sides and up the middle bottled up Kaepernick more often than not. Capers went with a number of Cover 0 looks to crowd the box and all but render the 49ers’ all-important ground attack useless. When Kaepernick did have time to throw and the few instances he made a decent pass, Green Bay’s aggressive cornerbacks held their ground against the physical likes of Boldin and Smith. The Packers offense uncharacteristically sputtered, bogged down by drops and ongoing pass-protection issues on the outside with Barclay and left tackle David Bakhtiari. The latter has to be addressed in short order by head coach Mike McCarthy and play caller Tom Clements.