Ben Devine duped by fake Big Cat account on Bears rumor

Ben Devine, a Chicago Bears analyst, dropped a bombshell earlier this week claiming a stadium deal in Indiana was close to finalized and that the franchise could even change its name to include "Indiana" as part of the incentive package. Turns out his source wasn't who he thought.

Barstool Sports

@barstoolsports

The guy who reported the Chicago Bears are becoming the Indiana Bears got duped by someone who was pretending to be Big Cat and the Yak is working to get to the bottom of it!

Devine later retracted the report, saying he was "duped" by a source he now believes was "either fraudulent or intentionally manipulative." The wild part: he didn't just take someone's word for it. According to Devine, whoever was behind the account went to immense lengths to verify their identity as Big Cat before feeding him the false info — enough layers of confirmation that a reporter with a track record felt comfortable running with it.

Devine owned the mistake publicly, admitting he "deserved the beating" he was about to get and that publishing the report wasn't OK. He did walk back the name-change piece specifically while still maintaining the Bears would likely end up in Indiana in some capacity — but the "Indiana Bears" rebrand rumor is dead.

Stoolies Clubhouse 🏴‍☠️

@StooliesClub

The fake Big Cat guy when he saw “the most plugged in Chicago Bears analyst on Twitter” guy tweet “Indiana Bears”

Barstool's Yak crew wasted no time turning it into content. Maserati Mike showed zero sympathy for Devine getting played, and the show has been digging into exactly how someone managed to spoof Big Cat convincingly enough to get a real Bears reporter to publish on it.

The Yak

@BarstoolYak

.@MaseratiMike_ showed no sympathy for Ben Devine after he got duped by a fake source

The whole saga is a reminder of how easy it's become to spoof a verified-adjacent identity online, even for people whose entire job is chasing sources. Devine's credibility takes a hit here, but the bigger story might end up being who actually built the fake account and why they picked the Bears stadium saga to pull it off. The Yak says they're still digging — expect more on this as it unfolds.