Pretty sure you should not be defending this hand in the BB - far too disconnected. A fold irrespective of the odds you are being offered.

Grunching.

Check/calling is my least favorite option for this flop.

IMO this is a perfect spot to lead small. Just clean up some equity and discourage future streets (which will rarely be easy for us to play, especially OOP) without inflating the pot too much.

Otherwise, just check/fold. 96(A) isn't going to stay the best hand especially often, especially if we need to guess out of position. Versus a pot and a call, our equity isn't good enough often enough for us to defend it (and I'd repeat my comments about future streets).

Edit: oh, btw, a XR is burning money here. Once your opponents have already put in a bet, they're continuing way too often (with lots of equity) for a XR to make sense imo.