Big Picture: Seahawks 'MOB' Mentality Has Them Believing They're a Team of Destiny

Lumen Field (Seattle) — For Jalen Milroe, the Seattle Seahawks’ lopsided victory over the San Francisco 49ers wasn’t happenstance or blind luck.  

The third-round rookie quarterback out of Alabama experienced the seedlings of what’s bloomed into a team built to win a Super Bowl at the start of the offseason. And now the rest of the country is finally witnessing that crystal-clear vision cultivated by second-year head coach Mike Macdonald.

"Our team has an edge," Milroe told me in the locker room of Seattle’s thorough 41-6 manhandling of San Francisco, "And we had that edge when we first got here and started the season off. Coach [Mike Macdonald] said we have a really good team, and we believe in it. 

"Our acronym that we have, MOB Ties, just plays into our whole team success. And I’m just happy to be on this team because there’s a lot of guys who want to be successful."

MOB, of course, is an acronym for "mission over bull---" — a no-nonsense slogan created by the team’s leadership council reflective of the lunch-pail mentality instilled by Macdonald that’s echoed by the rest of the team. This is not the unbridled bravado worn like sparkly armor by the Legion of Boom defense that propelled this franchise to its first Super Bowl victory over a decade ago.

However, it’s born through an authentic connectivity woven into an entire team that inspires confidence on game days. 

Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence wore a blingy "MOB" necklace after the game.

"Just letting the world know how we’re coming," Lawrence joked from the podium.

Like Lawrence’s necklace, this team does have swagger. 

"It gives us a ton of confidence," edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu told me about his team’s latest blowout win. "We can beat anybody and play with anybody if we put our minds to it," Seahawks edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu told me. We practice hard. Our preparation is good. We can compete with anybody."

And that confidence has the Seahawks believing they are a team of destiny.

"Definitely," star wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba told me. "The way we talk with one another and the vibe that we have. We know what we can do."

It obviously starts with the defense in Seattle, nicknamed "The Dark Side" by the best player on that side of the ball, defensive lineman Leonard Williams. A second-team All-Pro who finished with seven sacks during the regular season, Williams joked he had the team’s defensive game plan in a leather briefcase he rested on the podium during his media availability with reporters after the game.

Williams finished with a fourth-down sack of Brock Purdy in the second half that squashed a potential scoring drive that could have got San Francisco back into the game in the second half. 

"Mike has his slogan, loose and focused, that he’s been instilling in this team since the day he got here," Williams said at the podium. "I think that's really what has allowed this team to play so free, play so fast. We just believe in one another, we trust one another, and regardless of where we're at on the field, when we take the field, we trust in ourselves." 

Leonard Williams logged a sack and six pressures (per Pro Football Focus) in the Seahawks' win over the 49ers. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

Look no further than the team’s lead running back, Kenneth Walker III, for another example of that confidence. Walker totaled a season-high 116 rushing yards and three touchdowns, taking over as the engine of the offense when fellow running back Zach Charbonnet sustained a knee injury, forcing him to leave the game. 

Seattle had struggled to generate a consistent running game during the regular season. However, since Week 12, the Seahawks have averaged 117 rushing yards per contest and totaled 12 rushing touchdowns. Those numbers coincide with the team’s eight-game winning streak. 

"First and foremost, it means a lot," Walker said at the podium about his performance. "We worked at it all season. I just got to give the credit to the O-line. They had the holes there, and all I had to do was hit it." 

The Seahawks leaned on the running game with Sam Darnold questionable to start due to an oblique injury. Darnold didn’t participate in his usual on-the-field workout without pads, raising questions about his ability. But after the game, Darnold said he chose to warm up inside the locker room, so he didn’t have to warm up twice. And that decision proved to be a good one for the USC product. 

Tom Brady’s LFG Player of the Game: Seahawks RB Kenneth Walker III 🏆

Milroe said there was no chance of Darnold not suiting up. 

"I had no doubt [he was playing,]" Milroe told me. "The biggest thing was his attention to detail was there the whole week. His preparation was still there. Nothing changed the whole week. And so, we weren’t shocked at all that he went out there and balled out." 

Midseason addition Rashid Shaheed scored the only touchdown Seattle needed on the opening play of the game, zig-zagging his way for a 95-yard touchdown on a kick return to give the Seahawks a 7-0 lead, igniting an already super-charged crowd ready to explode with the Saturday night kickoff.

Cooper Kupp expects even more fireworks from Shaheed, who scored his third return for a touchdown in his short time with the Seahawks. 

"He’s a cheat code," Kupp said about Shaheed at the podium. "I’m so angry at him for being so fast. It drives me crazy. Just jealous at the end of the day, because he’s special. 

"I remember the first day he got to the facility, I remember asking him, ‘Is it cool lining up and knowing that you can run past anyone that lines up across from you?' And he says, ‘Yeah, it’s pretty cool.’"

Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on X at @eric_d_williams.

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