Chicago Bears pass rusher Austin Booker is not happy with his current role on the team, according to Bears reporter Herb Howard.
“Two days before the #Jets game, #Bears DE Austin Booker expressed to me that he wasn’t happy with his role on the team,” Howard posted on X on October 12th. “He wanted more playing time. In the two games since then Booker has 3 sacks and 4TFLs.”
Howard said he asked Booker on Monday if he’d ‘change his approach in the past couple of weeks.’
Booker’s response? “No. When the snap count goes up, the production goes up.”
Bears Pass Rusher Austin Booker ‘Not Happy’ With Current Role
Austin Booker wants more playing time ahead of the Week 6 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons, and the Bears should give that to him.
In Sunday’s loss to the Green Bay Packers, Booker made his presence felt despite being on the field for 72% of the team’s total defensive snaps, racking up two sacks, three tackles for loss, and one forced fumble.
He was one of the few bright spots on both sides of the ball for Chicago, and definitely deserves to have a bigger role on defense.
“Yeah, I don’t think it was a full representation of us as a team for sure,” Booker said after the loss against Green Bay. “Which we talked about. We’re going to correct it, come back next week full swing.”
Packers Exposed Serious Flaws on Bears’ Defense
It was a tough watch when the Bears were on defense against the Packers. It felt like Jordan Love threw a long completion every other play, along with Green Bay’s running backs constantly finding gaping holes to run through.
“That’s their M.O.; they do a nice job being aggressive on third-and-long,” Ben Johnson said. “Love, when he’s got a little bit of time, he’s got a lot of trust in those pass catchers. We must have taken a little bit of a bad angle there.”
What happened has happened, and defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said the team is taking this as a learning moment moving forward.
“This is definitely disappointing, but you know, bad loss, but a lot of good lessons,” Jarrett said. “I think at the end of the day there’s something that’s a step back that’s gonna push us forward, and I’m excited to get back to work. But definitely not the outcome that we intended to have today or expected to have, but we got to learn from it and get back to work.”
“Look, we’re 3-2, man,” safety Xavier Woods added. “We’ve done something well to get those three wins. That’s just the NFL. You’re not going to play perfect every week.”
Perhaps he, along with the rest of the team, should have the mindset that they should strive to play perfect every week.
Bears Pass Rusher ‘Not Happy,’ Wants More Snaps Ahead of Falcons Game