Blue Bombers jugger-not

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Blue Bombers quarterback Michael Bishop watches the end of the play from ground level after taking a hit from the B.C. Lions' defence during Winnipeg's 24-21 defeat Sunday at Canad Inns Stadium. (TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

Opportunity knocked. It banged on the door over and over again Sunday and it waited for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to scramble to their feet and answer.

Instead, the home side repeatedly tripped over their collective cleats, stumbled on the rug and did a face plant in a 24-21 loss to the B.C. Lions in front of 24,048 at Canad Inns Stadium in a result that could haunt them by season's end.

Indeed, if every game in a football season represents a chapter unto itself then Chapter 15 of the Bombers' 2009 campaign should be titled 'Opportunity Lost.'

"We're still in it. We let an opportunity get away, but it doesn't kill us," began head coach Mike Kelly. "I want these guys to swish around the bitterness, I want the coaching staff to swish it around and then maybe we'll all throw up and come back and be better next week."

Here's why this one stings: A number of stars had lined up right for the Bombers -- including Montreal knocking off Hamilton earlier in the day -- but the locals handled the gift as if it were coated in olive oil.

Among the developments that seemingly set up the Bombers perfectly:

"ö Lions starter Buck Pierce left the game in the first quarter after injuring his right shoulder and was replaced by rookie Travis Lulay, who had thrown all of 12 passes this year;

"ö The Bombers jumped to a 14-zip lead after the first quarter, but were outscored 24-7 the rest of the way;

"ö Winnipeg forced five turnovers, but managed just seven points off those Lion gaffes. At the same time, the Bombers spit up the ball four times -- all by Michael Bishop -- that led to 17 B.C. points.

"ö After falling behind 24-20 with 12:57 left the Bombers would get three more cracks at rallying -- two possessions starting at their own 41-yard line, the third at their 50 -- but saw Alexis Serna miss on a 47-yard field goal, Bishop throw the last of his three interceptions and then go two-and-out and punt the ball back to the Lions and hope their defence stiffened.

Instead, Lulay twice ran for first downs -- for 11 on a second-and-10 and for 26 yards on a second-and-11 -- to kill the clock.

"We're not going to scare anybody until we can take advantage of our opportunities," said Bombers defensive tackle Doug Brown. "You only get so many opportunities and if you don't take advantage of them you see what the end result is, right? Close game, hard-fought, but we're not a team that can give away a game like that with three remaining and playoff positioning on the line."

The loss ends the Bombers' modest three-game win streak and drops them to 6-9, tied for second with the Ticats, who fell 41-38 to the Als in Montreal. Winnipeg now has a home-and-home series with the Alouettes before finishing off the regular season with a date against Hamilton here in River City.

B.C. improved to 8-7 with their third straight victory and is now just one point behind the first-place Calgary Stampeders and Saskatchewan Roughriders at 8-6-1. Edmonton is still in the picture out West and in the crossover at 7-8.

"This one hurts, this one hurts bad," said linebacker Ike Charlton. "It was a chance for us to solidify things over here for playoff purposes. This hurts me. There's no way that team should have beat us. No way. But they came in here and they beat us, so hats off to them."

Bishop, after throwing for more than 300 yards three times in his last six games, struggled mightily and completed just 13 of 32 for 226 yards and missed a half dozen wide-open receivers. Lulay, meanwhile, was 13 of 24 for 177 yards with two picks and the game-winning score while running seven times for 92 yards.

Asked if he was going to kick himself for all the missed opportunities while watching the video evidence of the contest, Kelly said: "My dad told me, 'Never kick yourself in the ass because there's plenty of people lined up to do it.' If I haven't learned that lesson this year, I don't know if I've learned anything."

BLUE NOTES: LB Joe Lobendahn pulled up lame in the third quarter with a bum hamstring while trying to chase down A.J. Harris on the game-winning TD and did not finish the game.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

CFL standings

East Division

GP W L T Pts.

y-Montreal 15 13 2 0 26

Winnipeg 15 6 9 0 12

Hamilton 15 6 9 0 12

Toronto 15 3 12 0 6

West Division

GP W L T Pts.

Sask. 15 8 6 1 17

Calgary 15 8 6 1 17

B.C. 15 8 7 0 16

Edmonton 15 7 8 0 14

y - clinched first place in division

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 19, 2009 C1