Two days before the Seahawks will depart for the Bay Area ahead of Super Bowl LX, players killed time before practice with a round of shadow boxing, the game that has taken over what has been a particularly close locker room this season. On the other side of the locker room, players teased each other over trivial matters such as hairstyle and musical choices.

In a hallway outside the locker room, receiver Cooper Kupp looked up during a media session and laughed mid-sentence when he realized that tight end Eric Saubert was standing amidst the reporters, filming with his camera.

"What's your favorite animal," Saubert asked before walking away.

"A wolf," Kupp replied.

The Seahawks will board their team charter on Sunday to fly to the Bay Area where they'll face the Patriots in what will be the franchise's fourth Super Bowl appearance, and first in 11 years. And they'll do so bringing with them the same loose and focused approach that got them this far.

"We are very unserious as a unit; we're constantly messing around, but when it's time to dial it in, we do," safety Julian Love said not long after his team beat the Rams in the NFC championship game.

Minus the cigar smoke, the scene in the locker room on Sunday wasn't much different than it was after any of Seattle's 14 regular-season wins. Players had a good time celebrating the win they had just earned, but also knew there was still a bigger goal out there to pursue.

"I swear this is our vibe on a Wednesday before and after practice," Love said after the game. "Less substances, like the cigars, but we enjoy being around each other. It's very real. There's very little ego. Everyone has a chip on their shoulder, but it's put to a good purpose. That's why we created the whole MOB thing. It's our mission over any BS."

Back in April of 2024 during his first team meeting as the team's head coach, Mike Macdonald put words to this type of approach, whether he did so intentionally or not—and with Macdonald, very little is done without intent and purpose.

In his first message to the team 21 months ago, one that was shared on Seahawks social media accounts last week, Macdonald laid out his vision of the Seahawks hosting an NFC championship game, and after painting a picture of the day—"It's wet, it's windy. It's shitty for them, but it's just right for us"—Macdonald described how his championship-caliber team would play, saying, "We're loose, we're focused, we're confident, we just spent the last nine months stacking every opportunity that we had to put us in that position."

And heading to the Super Bowl with a team that, other than a handful of players and coaches, is made up of people who will be taking part in their first Super Bowl, that loose and focused mindset should serve the Seahawks well.

The Super Bowl is anything but a normal football week—the team is away from home for an entire week, there are far more media obligations, and the daily routine is different—so being able to take those changes in stride, and even enjoy them, while also staying on task, is a real challenge.

"The days will look a little bit different," Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. "It's really the intent behind what we're trying to do every day. Just staying focused on the things that we can control, because there is so much extra, you know. And that comes with the territory, so it's exciting. It's an opportunity to kind of get it right, and I trust our guys. Our guys will be great. They know that we got one goal in mind. Let's go make it happen."

As far back as offseason workouts in May and June, Seahawks players have talked about how close and connected this particular team is, and that bond has only grown throughout this memorable season. That connectedness has helped in ways that show up on the field when, for example, defensive linemen who know each other so well can play off of each other when rushing the passer, and in less tangible ways, such as when linebacker Ernest Jones IV’s passionate defense of quarterback Sam Darnold became something of a galvanizing moment for a team that hasn’t lost since. And now the Seahawks are counting on their closeness, and on their ability to have fun while also putting in the work, to help them maximize this next week on the road.

"It started last year, just building that brotherhood, specifically within our (defensive line) room, we're really close," veteran defensive tackle Jarran Reed said. "Then this year, just all the antics we do, all the games we play, I don't think anybody really thinks about the game. Everybody's more so thinking about getting that shadow box in, or whatever other game we're playing. We all talk to each other, we're all locked in. We spend most of our days here in the building, so we're around each other 24/7 and we all just jell together and mesh together well.

"I think (being loose and focused) eases all kinds of pressure or any doubts that anybody may have, knowing that there are no nerves. We all trust each other well enough on offense, defense, special teams that we know that we're all going to go out there and play our hearts out and do our jobs."

Veteran receiver Cooper Kupp not only has played in and won a Super Bowl, he was also the Super Bowl MVP for that 2021 Rams team, so he has a different perspective heading into this week than a lot of his teammates. And in this year's version of the Seahawks, Kupp sees a group that is ready to make the most out of their Super Bowl week.

"All of these guys here, if guys handle their business and go about their process, these moments become just another moment on the path," Kupp said before Thursday's practice, and before Saubert interrupted with some hard-hitting journalism. "It's just been the way we've gone about things. If you're where your feet are—you handle what today is a great football Thursday for us on a Friday, and everyone's focused on that, seeing that, seeing the vibes from the guys coming in and working and just being focused on the here and now, there's not a whole lot that needs to be said.

"Any time you get to do this, it is one of the pinnacles of your life. There's a lot of moments that you're going to look back on in your life that are going to be really cool, and it's just one of those moments, but it is a very cool moment to be a part of. You enjoy it, have some gratitude for the fact that you're here, and all the work that it took to get here, all the people you got to work with to get here. So I'm taking it all in one day at a time… I'm not concerned about that (the distractions of Super Bowl week). We're going to have a great plan, and just go out there and be where our feet are. There's going to be a lot of people pulling at you and doing all kinds of other things, but when you're at practice, be at practice, and when you've got to talk to the media, be there and talk to the media."