Indiana Senator Jim Banks is ready to trade his horseshoe for a bear claw.
In a move that has raised eyebrows across the Hoosier State, the lifelong Indianapolis Colts fan publicly declared he’ll become a Chicago Bears fan if the team relocates to Hammond, Indiana. The Bears have threatened to leave Soldier Field after Illinois refused to fund a new stadium, and according to CNN, Banks sees opportunity.
“The Bears are gonna pick up fans all over the Hoosier State. I’m gonna be one of them. I’m a lifelong Colts fan. But I’m gonna become a Bears fan,” Banks said, his comments shared on X by ESPN’s Stephen Holder.
That quote has sparked debate — can a sitting senator just flip allegiances like that? Banks seems to think so, but the Colts aren’t sweating it.
Holder, who covers the Colts, provided context. “The reality here is the Colts are not concerned about this, as I hear it. Many older generations here have long been Bears fans because the Colts didn’t arrive until 1984,” he wrote. “But Northwest Indiana and central Indiana are completely different places/regions in the Colts’ view. I tend to agree.”
The Bears are one of the NFL’s founding franchises, and leaving Soldier Field after more than 50 seasons feels borderline sacrilegious to die-hard fans. But front office brass insists the move across state lines makes financial sense — even if the emotional price tag stings.
For the Bears, the timing isn’t terrible. Last season, under rookie quarterback Caleb Williams and first-year head coach Ben Johnson, the team snapped a four-year playoff drought and reached the divisional round before falling to the Los Angeles Rams. The rebuild is ahead of schedule, and optimism is high.
Resettling in Indiana, however, could bring a new wave of support — and a new identity. Some fans online jokingly called them the “Indiana Bears.”
No official timeline has been set for the relocation, and the team has not confirmed any definitive plans. But with a senator willing to cross enemy lines, the culture war between Colts and Bears fans just got a lot more interesting.
For now, change is on the horizon — even if it’s hard to embrace. Banks is ready to make the leap. The question is whether his constituents will follow.
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