CALGARY -- At first glance, there is not a lot to like about the Winnipeg Blue Bombers' prospects for victory against the Calgary Stampeders at McMahon Stadium this afternoon.

Which is great news if you're a Bombers fan. And we'll get to that. But first, the bad news -- which is, remember, actually the good news.

For starters -- and it's always about the starters in football -- the Bombers are going to be without their most important one today as quarterback Buck Pierce watches this one on television back home in Winnipeg and backup Alex Brink leads the troops, in what will be just the third start of Brink's professional career.

Untimely

That's a bad start. Then, there was the untimely news Friday morning that starting safety Ian Logan -- who'd missed practice all week, but who the club was saying as late as Thursday still might play today -- didn't make the trip either and will be, presumably, watching today's game on TV with Pierce.

That forced the Bombers into a couple of moves they'd rather not be making in the hours before the biggest game of the season -- with a chance to clinch first place in the East Division and a bye to the East final riding on what happens here this afternoon and, if Winnipeg loses, tonight in B.C. between the Lions and Montreal Alouettes.

First, Logan's absence means the Bombers will have to move Jovon Johnson -- their nominee this week for best defensive player and most outstanding player -- from cornerback, where he has played all season long, to safety, where he hasn't played at all this season.

Favourite

And then in Johnson's place, the Bombers will insert Deon Beasley, who is capable but will also almost certainly be a favourite target of Calgary QB Drew Tate today.

And second, because Logan is a Canadian starter, the Bombers added Canadian receiver Cassidy Doneff -- who was playing in Germany just a few months ago -- to their roster for the first time this season and are also expected to start non-import Fernand Kashama at defensive end to stay on the right side of the import-non-import ratio.

On top of all that, the Bombers will also be without one of their best special teams players -- and their favourite sixth defensive back -- because the league earlier this week deemed fit to suspend Johnny Sears for a blow to the head, something that has earned a fine for everyone else who did the same thing this season.

Oh, and did I mention the last time the Bombers won in Calgary was October, 2002?

So no, at first glance -- even second and third glances, now that I study it -- things don't look very good at all for the Bombers today.

All of which is also precisely the strongest argument you could make for why Winnipeg will win this afternoon and lock down their first East Division title in exactly 10 years.

As those of you who have come along on this crazy roller coaster that is the Bombers' 2011 season already know, this particular edition of the Bombers lives in opposite land, where up is down, down is up and the Bombers always do exactly the opposite of what conventional wisdom would suggest.

Beat the Alouettes in Montreal? No problem. Beat Saskatchewan? Not if their life depended on it. Sweep Hamilton three straight games? Piece of cake. Beat Toronto when it mattered most? Gong.

So yeah, with a bye to the East final and the luxury of two weeks to heal up on the line today, things are looking pretty bleak indeed for the Bombers against the Stamps today.

They have them, in other words, right where they want them.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 5, 2011 C1