Tony Shalhoub Has Bears Fans on Notice

Tony Shalhoub showed up in a maroon Wisconsin sweatshirt and a lifetime of Green Bay Packers fandom, and the conversation wound through babysitting the Lombardi kids, Lambeau tailgates, and a confident prediction that the Bears aren't catching the Packers anytime soon.

Shalhoub is from Green Bay, one of ten siblings, and grew up in the Lombardi era. His heroes were Bart Starr, Jim Taylor, Paul Hornung, Boyd Dowler, Henry Jordan. He can name the numbers. And when the town has 65,000 people, the separation between the team and the community barely exists, one of his older sisters used to babysit Vince Lombardi's kids.

Rich pressed him on the hourly rate. Shalhoub admitted he'd have to make a call to get back on that one. Safe to assume it was the best babysitting gig in Green Bay.

The Lambeau geography still shapes the family. Shalhoub has three sisters who live in Green Bay, two of them within walking distance of the stadium. His father had season tickets, and Shalhoub inherited eight of them, four on the Packers side around the five-yard line, two on the 15-20, and a couple up on the 35. He tries to get back for a couple of games a year.

The Steve Mariucci story was a pure Green Bay flex. Mariucci knew a guy who owned a house near Lambeau, rented it to college students all year, and then on game days would come back, move in, and turn his own tenants into the wait staff for his tailgate parties. Shalhoub's reaction was the right one: wish I'd thought of that.

On the current Packers, Shalhoub is all the way on the Jordan Love train. He thinks the team is due, that injuries got in the way this past year, and that Matt LaFleur has the operation pointed in the right direction. The group text with his siblings apparently goes play-by-play live during games. Offseason is harder, they have to find other things to talk about.

The Bears question is where it got spicy. Rich set him up, noting that the Ben Johnson era in Chicago doesn't look like a flash in the pan. Shalhoub reached for the word "competitive" and then accidentally called them cheaters before walking it back and laughing.

The landing was clean and confident. Shalhoub acknowledged the Bears have an enormous amount of talent. He just doesn't think any of it will matter in 2026. His reasoning, delivered without hedge: Green Bay is going to have an amazing surge this year.

It's one of those takes that only lands right coming from someone whose family literally grew up in the shadow of Lambeau Field.