Despite walking into the playoffs after an up-and-down season, the Packers’ pursuit of a Super Bowl came to an end after they lost a wild-card matchup 31-27 against the Chicago Bears. However, when the NFL released its weekly fines this Saturday, it was a Bears player who paid one of the season’s largest fines for his hits.

On its game-day accountability page, the league handed Bears’ defensive end Austin Booker a $46,371 fine for helmet-to-helmet contact during a sack on QB Jordan Love. Booker hasn’t yet appealed the fine.

The incident unfolded during Saturday night’s playoff matchup against the Green Bay Packers with 9:40 remaining in the second quarter. On a 2nd & 7 and Green Bay leading 13-7, before Love could throw the ball away, the Bears’ No. 94 came from behind, almost making a U-turn, and tackled the passer for a loss of one yard. However, the incident didn’t get a flag from the referees during the game, and the drive continued after a timeout by the Packers.

Meanwhile, announcers absolutely loved how Booker has been improving himself in his second year in the NFL. In fact, he’s one of the bigger problems for Love any time the two oldest rivals of the league match up. However, nothing can escape the NFL’s lens as Booker’s fine stands as the biggest one issued to any player from the Bears this season.

According to the NFL rulebook, a first offense for tackling with the helmet results in a fine of $23,186. However, that number doubles to $46,371 for a second violation in the same season. And that’s exactly what happened in Booker’s case.

His first helmet-to-helmet hit came against Love only in their Week 16 matchup. It’s the very game in which the hits pushed Love into a concussion. In the same game, he had another roughing the passer penalty. The two instances drew two fines of $5,818 each. Interestingly, that time, Booker did not agree with the ruling and appealed for the fine.

“One hundred percent,” Booker said. “The first one I’ll take full responsibility for. Like, I landed on him, I should have braced myself more.

“But I think the second one could definitely go both ways.”

Then, Love had seemingly looked downwards, which forced a helmet-to-helmet hit, attracting this response from Booker. Overall, the second year DL only had five total penalties for 47 yards. Comparatively, he only had one neutral zone infraction penalty for five yards in his rookie season. Despite it being a physical game, given their 104-year old rivalry with the Packers, no other player from either of the teams received a fine.

While Booker’s discipline on the field has caused problems, his productivity has been a key part of Chicago’s defensive push lately. The 23-year-old has posted 4.5 sacks over his last five games. Now, Chicago gears up to face the Los Angeles Rams in the divisional round at Soldier Field on Sunday.

On the other hand, Jordan Love’s team enters the offseason after being knocked out of the playoffs for the second straight time. Despite the loss, the Packers are putting faith in head coach Matt LaFleur again.

The Packers extend head coach Matt LaFleur’s contract

Before the 2025 campaign began, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur’s job was supposed to be on the line. However, the Packers started 9-3-1 this season. But after losing Micah Parsons to a season-ending injury, they also lost five consecutive games, including a playoff loss in Chicago after leading 21-3 at halftime and 27-16 in the fourth quarter.

So, speculations of his firing were only intensified. Still, the Packers are not letting that skid or consecutive playoff loss define LaFleur’s leadership. 

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero recently revealed that the team has agreed to offer a multi-year contract extension to him this weekend. LaFleur has been serving as head coach since 2019. He is currently in his last year of the deal, but the Packers chose not to wait until it expires. The Packers clearly made the move to quiet speculation and prevent LaFleur from losing his authority in the locker room. The details of the contract have not been revealed yet.

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Had they not extended his contract, the talk of LaFleur losing his job would have put him under pressure. Additionally, allowing him to coach without an extension could have weakened his voice inside the locker room. Green Bay’s decision to act fast will pave the way for its strong leadership next year. Meanwhile, the team’s move to keep LaFleur for the long haul was expected, given his winning record.

The 46-year-old coach holds a 76-40-1 regular-season record. He has also led them to six playoff appearances over his last seven seasons. However, his 3-6 postseason record hasn’t kept up with the team’s regular-season success. And yet the team hasn’t used it to measure LaFluer’s impact this time. Instead, the Packers are giving him another shot to translate regular-season success into a deep playoff run.