The Chicago Bears‘ defense has been a conundrum so far this season. They’ve had some great performances, like against Philadelphia and New York, mixed with some ugly clunkers like Carolina and Green Bay. Nobody is sure what to make of them. That is likely because they aren’t getting great results from every position group on a consistent basis. While the defensive line has been better than expected, the secondary has not. You saw that on Sunday at Lambeau Field. Is part of the problem with Dennis Allen’s use of his personnel? Austin Booker certainly thinks so.
Anybody who has followed the former 5th round pick since his arrival in 2024 knows he is a self-confident young man. Booker has always carried himself like a player who knows he has the talent and work ethic to be good at this level. Unfortunately, as he told Herb Howard of The Score, the coaches don’t always give him consistent playing time to prove it. He wasn’t happy after the first three games, feeling he wasn’t being used enough. With all due respect to his teammates, that is unacceptable.
Austin Booker then sent a message on Sunday.
While the defense as a whole was terrible for much of the afternoon, the defensive end produced his best all-around performance since joining the team. Booker was everywhere. Not only did he finish with 2 sacks of Jordan Love, but he also added 4 run stops for no gain or a loss. Green Bay had no answers for him. It isn’t difficult to determine why it turned out this way. Booker logged a season-high 44 snaps on defense. Yet somehow that is still far lower than the 55-65 he was getting last year.
Part of the problem is the return of Dayo Odeyingbo. Allen has wanted to get the defensive end on the field against the run, which is his strength. Austin Booker would be more of a designated pass rusher. However, that might be a mistake. Booker wasn’t lying. When his snaps go up, the production has gone up. Last season, he logged 5 games with 60 or more snaps. In those 5 games, he had 20 pressures and 2 sacks. For his career, Booker has played 12 games in which he has had at least 40 snaps. He has 38 pressures and 7 sacks in those games.
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The coaches need to maintain the current workload.
At the very least, they have to keep Booker’s snap count above 40. That seems to be the dividing line for his productivity. Anything lower, and it’s been difficult to generate impact plays. With all due respect to Grady Jarrett and Neville Gallimore, the obvious move seems to be keeping Odeyingbo inside and letting Booker be the primary guy on the edge opposite Montez Sweat. That configuration has done wonders for them this season whenever Allen has deployed it. Why not make it a full-time thing?
Booker may get his wish either way. Odeyingbo had to leave Sunday’s game with a quad injury. There is a possibility he could miss some time. That would mean Booker goes back to getting 60+ snaps per game. If he maintains his current pace, he could become the first drafted Bears player in 20 years to crack double-digit sacks. The timing would be incredibly fortuitous with his rookie contract winding down.
