In one of the best games played all season long, the Chicago Bears eked out a thunderous victory in overtime over the Green Bay Packers. A back-and-forth encounter saw the home team go down by as many as 10 points in the fourth quarter before storming back into the game.
However, the story of the game could have gone very differently if the quarterback for their opponents hadn’t been compromised early in the second quarter. An errant hit landed Jordan Love in the concussion protocol, and he was taken out for the rest of the game. Unfortunately, fans weren’t so easy to forget, throwing slurs at Austin Booker for the hit.
Austin Booker Called Out for Landing Jordan Love in Concussion Protocol
A fifth-round pick for the Bears in 2024, Booker has become a solid addition to the defensive front. While not producing at a consistently elite level, he can soak up some snaps at the spot.
As a rookie, he tallied 1.5 sacks and 21 total tackles, numbers that have jumped to 3.5 sacks and 29 total tackles this year, despite the sophomore appearing in only eight games all season.
However, after the game against the Packers, his hit on Love was the immediate talk of the town. On a passing play early in the second quarter, a blitz from the Bears saw two defenders reach Love right before his throw.
While he was sandwiched in between, there was direct facemask-to-facemask contact, causing him to drop down and go to the sideline to be checked for a concussion. The Bears were flagged for a roughing the passer penalty, but the damage had already been done.
Unable to return to the game, Green Bay had to carry on with Malik Willis under center for the rest of the night. While the backup put together a solid overall effort, the Packers had a legitimate gripe about going at it without their franchise quarterback.
Fans, too, did not take the hit well. Taking to social media, complaints raged against Booker, with one fan outright stating, “Austin Booker is the dirtiest player in the league #ftb.” Some even took it a step too far with some harsh words against him.
“Kick Austin Booker out of the game, take his assets in fines, and f***ing send him to Alcatraz.” Even more mild reactions believed that the punishment for Booker needed to go beyond just a penalty against Chicago.
“Austin Booker is DIRTY!! Leaning with his helmet at Jordan Love, absolutely ridiculous. Should be tossed for this.” However, not everyone was fully against Booker for that particular hit.
Some, rightfully so, pointed to Love lowering his head before contact as the reason for such a predicament. One fan even believed that Booker had no fault in the play. “Jordan Love lowered his head. Hope he’s alright, but not sure what Austin Booker can do here.”
Another fan was more extreme in his views, claiming that “The NFL is broken, man.” Explaining his rationale, he added, “Lowers his head, and Austin Booker gets called for ‘roughing the passer.’ Absolute blasphemy”
Still, for fans on the Packers’ side of the argument, it was entirely Booker’s fault on the play. Even the players believed the mistake was on Chicago’s end, with left guard Aaron Banks even calling for a stricter rule on such hits.
#Packers were not pleased with Bears pass rusher Austin Booker’s head shot on Jordan Love that left their QB1 with a concussion. Left guard Aaron Banks with a direct appeal to the NFL for a more serious in-game punishment than a 15-yard penalty. pic.twitter.com/b0i3EV3weL
— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) December 21, 2025
He believed a change was necessary, stating, “What’s the flag they called on that? Roughing the password? I just don’t get how guys get kicked out of a game for taunting, but if you hit a quarterback late in the head, that should get the same treatment as something as simple as taunting. I think that has to be reevaluated. I think that’s ridiculous.”
It will be interesting to see if the league addressed this issue in the offseason and offers a potential rule change for a definitive fix in such scenarios. But for the time being, the hope in Green Bay has to be that Love is okay for the final two weeks and can help lead his team to the playoffs.
