Could very well be. Or BIGFOOT. Or even .... ALIENS!!
Since I have no definitive evidence of it being anything at all, then it could be anything at all.
Of course our Parks and Rec guys claimed for years there weren’t any and then one was road killed on I-80 just West of Omaha. Then the cat in Kearney killed by law enforcement wandering around in a school zone.
Not to mention all the ones in Western Nebraska killed by farmers and ranchers.
They have plenty of game and domestic cattle to keep them from getting hungry enough to attack humans. But if a chance encounter should ensue, you never know what might take place.
Better to be safe than sorry. I live in rural California and there are thousands of lions here, more than any other state. Since they outlawed hunting them here several decades ago, mountain lions have become habituated to people and have lost their fear of us. If you are unarmed, you are not the apex predator.