India, Feb. 28 -- Mike Ditka, 86, is a former Chicago Bears coach popularly known as 'Da Coach'. He is also a Hall of Fame player who gained legendary NFL status for his contributions to the tight end position. However, recently, he fell prey to a hoax alleging that Ditka had passed away.

This claim appeared to originate on Facebook and was widely amplified on the social media platform by various unverified profiles.

"RIP Coach Ditka you exemplified what Chicago was..," one person wrote on the Meta-owned social media platform.

A post was also put up on the Chicago Bears fan page group on the platform. Designed like an obituary photo, the image showed the coach in black and white with his birth year and the current year mentioned. "Sad ...