49ers' offense goes silent against Seahawks, costing them NFC's No. 1 seed

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The game started with the San Francisco 49ers unable to generate a single first down in the first quarter. It ended with Brock Purdy on his back after a crushing hit on a fourth-down incompletion.

It wasn't much better in between for the 49ers. An offense that was nearly unstoppable during a six-game winning streak could generate almost nothing against the Seattle Seahawks in a 13-3 loss Saturday night that cost San Francisco a shot at the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs.

“They played good defense and we didn’t execute,” Purdy said. “All these other games were we pulled away and had good points and stats and all that stuff is because we execute on the gritty third downs and stay on the field and then we go and score touchdowns after that. So obviously that’s something we needed to do tonight. We didn’t and the scoreboard shows it.”

Now, instead of getting a bye, home-field advantage and the chance to play the Super Bowl on their home field without taking another trip, the 49ers (12-5) will have to head on the road next week in the wild-card round after falling flat in their biggest game of the season.

San Francisco will get the fifth seed and the chance to play the 8-9 winner of the NFC South in the playoffs if the Rams lose or tie against Arizona on Sunday. The Niners will fall to the sixth seed with a trip to Philadelphia or Chicago if Los Angeles beats the Cardinals.

“We’re ready for it,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “It would have been nice to have a home game here — or both home games — and get a bye. But it is what it is. This team’s been through a lot this year. Now we got to do it the hard way.”

The Niners had put themselves in this position thanks to an offense that helped the team average a league-best 35.7 points during a six-game winning streak that featured back-to-back games with at least 42 points ahead of the showdown against Seattle.

But after thriving against several of the NFL's weaker defenses in recent weeks, San Francisco was outclassed by a Seahawks unit that put heavy pressure on Purdy, shut down Christian McCaffrey and the running game and used sound tackling to eliminate big plays after the catch.

It added up to one of the worst offensive performances for San Francisco in nine seasons under Shanahan, with the three points being the fewest the team scored since a 23-3 loss to Carolina in his debut in 2017 and the 173 yards the fewest ever in a regular-season game.

“Disappointed," tight end George Kittle said. “NFL, you can have a bad game any game. Unfortunately, we decided to have a bad game today. ... Kind of hard to expect to really win a game if we’re not going to score more than three points.”

Purdy finished 19 of 27 for 127 yards with one interception and took three sacks. McCaffrey was held to 23 yards on eight carries and a season-low 57 yards from scrimmage.

Playing without Pro Bowl left tackle Trent Williams and receiver Ricky Pearsall, San Francisco never got into a rhythm on offense. The 49ers started the game with back-to-back three-and-outs and then got stopped on fourth-and-1 on the next drive after finally getting a first down.

The Niners got a late field goal in the first half and only trailed 10-3 at the break, but nothing changed in the second half with the team punting for a third time — one more than in three games combined in December — after failing to reach midfield on the opening drive of the third quarter.

San Francisco's best chance to reach the end zone came early in the fourth quarter when it drove to the 6 and was in position to cut into a 10-point deficit. But a pass by Purdy was tipped at the line and bobbled by McCaffrey into Drake Thomas' hands for what was essentially a game-sealing interception.

“It’s a play I have to make, absolutely have to make,” McCaffrey said. “I expect nothing less but to make that play and it’s completely on me.”

The Seahawks killed more than eight minutes on the ensuing drive and the 49ers' last chance ended when Purdy was drilled by Derick Hall on a failed fourth-down pass to Kittle. Purdy was down on the turf for a bit before finally walking off the field gingerly with a stinger that Shanahan said wouldn't have kept him out of the game.

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San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle, right, is tackled Seattle Seahawks safety Ty Okada (39) during the second half of an NFL football game in Santa Clara, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Seattle Seahawks linebacker Drake Thomas, right, intercepts a pass intended for San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, left, during the second half of an NFL football game in Santa Clara, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy (13) walks off the field after an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks in Santa Clara, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy, bottom, reacts after being sacked by Seattle Seahawks defensive tackle Jarran Reed, middle, during the second half of an NFL football game in Santa Clara, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested Sunday that the United States would not take a day-to-day role in governing Venezuela other than enforcing an existing “oil quarantine” on the country, a turnaround after President Donald Trump announced a day earlier that the U.S. would be running Venezuela following its ouster of leader Nicolás Maduro.

Rubio's statements on TV talk shows seemed designed to temper concerns about whether the assertive American action to achieve regime change might again produce a prolonged foreign intervention or failed attempt at nation-building. They stood in contrast to Trump’s broad but vague claims that the U.S. would at least temporarily “run” the oil-rich nation, comments that suggested some sort of governing structure under which Caracas would be controlled by Washington.

Rubio offered a more nuanced take, saying the U.S. would continue to enforce an oil quarantine that was already in place on sanctioned tankers before Maduro was removed from power early Saturday and use that leverage as a means to press policy changes in Venezuela.

“And so that’s the sort of control the president is pointing to when he says that," Rubio said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” "We continue with that quarantine, and we expect to see that there will be changes, not just in the way the oil industry is run for the benefit of the people, but also so that they stop the drug trafficking.”

The blockade on sanctioned oil tankers — some of which have been seized by the U.S. — “remains in place, and that’s a tremendous amount of leverage that will continue to be in place until we see changes that not just further the national interest of the United States, which is number one, but also that lead to a better future for the people of Venezuela,” he added.

Even before the operation that nabbed Maduro, experts were already questioning the legality of aspects of the administration's pressure campaign on Venezuela, including the deadly bombing of boats accused of trafficking drugs that some scholars said stretched the boundaries of international law.

Trump's vow to “run” Venezuela, repeated more than half a dozen times at a news conference in Florida on Saturday, sparked concerns among some Democrats. It also drew unease from parts of his own Republican coalition, including an “America First” base that is opposed to foreign interventions, and also from observers who recalled past nation-building efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rubio dismissed such criticism, saying that Trump’s intent had been misunderstood by a “foreign policy establishment” that was fixated on the Middle East.

“The whole foreign policy apparatus thinks everything is Libya, everything is Iraq, everything is Afghanistan,” Rubio said. "This is not the Middle East. And our mission here is very different. This is the Western Hemisphere.”

Rubio also suggested that the U.S. would give Maduro’s subordinates who are now in charge time to govern, saying, “We’re going to judge everything by what they do, and we’re going to see what they do.” And though he did not rule out a U.S. military presence in Venezuela, Rubio said the current U.S. “force posture” was capable of stopping drug boats and sanctioned tankers.

A day earlier, Trump told reporters, “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.” He later pointed to his national security team with him, including Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and said it would be done for a period of time by “the people that are standing right behind me. We’re gonna be running it we’re gonna be bringing it back."

The White House declined to comment beyond what Trump said Saturday.

Maduro landed late Saturday afternoon at a small airport in New York City's northern suburbs following the middle-of-the-night operation that extracted him and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their home in a military base in the capital city of Caracas — an act that Maduro’s government called “imperialist.” The couple faces U.S. charges of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.

The dramatic seizure of the Maduros capped an intensive Trump administration pressure campaign on Venezuela’s autocratic leader and months of secret planning, resulting in the most assertive American action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Legal experts raised questions about the lawfulness of the operation, which was done without congressional approval.

Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, meanwhile, demanded that the U.S. free Maduro and called him the country’s rightful leader as her nation’s high court named her interim president.

After arriving at the airport, Maduro was flown by helicopter to Manhattan, where a convoy of law enforcement vehicles, including an armored car, was waiting to whisk him to a nearby U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration office. A video posted on social media by a White House account showed Maduro, smiling, as he was escorted through that office by two DEA agents grasping his arms.

He is due to make his first appearance Monday in Manhattan's federal court.

Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on narco-terrorism conspiracy charges, and the Justice Department released a new indictment Saturday of Maduro and his wife that painted his administration as a “corrupt, illegitimate government” fueled by a drug-trafficking operation that flooded the U.S with cocaine. The U.S. government does not recognize Maduro as the country’s leader.

The Trump administration spent months building up American forces in the region and carrying out attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean for allegedly ferrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone strike at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels — the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. campaign began in September.

Venezuela’s capital remained unusually quiet Sunday with few vehicles moving around and convenience stores, gas stations and other businesses closed. A road typically filled with runners, cyclists and other fitness enthusiasts on Sundays only had a handful of people working out the day after Maduro was deposed.

The presidential palace was guarded by armed civilians and members of the military. At a nearby plaza, only a street sweeper and a soldier stood, and across the street, a church remained close for a second day in a row.

Caracas resident David Leal arrived to the lot where he parks vehicles for a living only to quickly realize that he would likely not see any clients for a second day.

“People are still shaken,” said Leal, 77.

Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela. Associated Press writers Jorge Rueda in Caracas, Venezuela; Lisa Mascaro, Michelle L. Price, Seung Min Kim and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington; Farnoush Amiri in New York; Larry Neumeister in South Amboy, New Jersey, and Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.

Protestors hold a banner stating "Trump Must Go Now" as they gather outside the UN Plaza during a demonstration against the U.S. bombing of Venezuela and seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, in San Francisco on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (Yalonda M. James/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Government supporters burn a U.S. flag in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that U.S. forces had captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

National Guard armored vehicles block an avenue leading to Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

Destroyed containers lay at La Guaira port after explosions were heard in Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Smoke rises from Fort Tiuna, the main military garrison in Caracas, Venezuela, after multiple explosions were heard and aircraft swept through the area, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Men watch smoke rising from a dock after explosions were heard at La Guaira port, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro embrace in downtown Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)