Fear not, loyal Blue Bombers fans

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/09/2014 (4081 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sometimes, to fully appreciate what you have, you need to take a moment to step back and see where and what you came from.

While the city and team are understandably reeling from the angst of losing a critical game with first-and-goal on their opponent’s three-yard line, the fact the Blue and Gold are trading blows with each and every opponent down the stretch is a magical promised land far, far and away from what we suffered through last year.

While it is never politically correct to stand on the laurels of improvement, and to accept mediocrity as a standard of performance, we have to realize less than a season ago this team was checking off benchmarks of futility.

On the freeway to 3-15, the Bombers surrendered 224 more points than they scored, and on average, they were losing games by more than two touchdowns — a differential of more than 16 points a game — including losses of 37-7, 53-17, 38-11 and 37-14. Those aren’t competitive football games — that’s the men’s league Saturday afternoon weekend warrior exhibition schedule against a bunch of old pros.

They were led by a coach that became beleaguered and bewildered at the controls, and a carousel of QBs that were spinning faster than usual, with four different pivots getting time under centre.

In only one off-season and parts of the 2014 season, with the urgency of a surgeon removing necrotic tissue, great swaths of management, players and coaches were cut away from the team. To have recovered to the point where the Bombers are relevant again and in the thick of things as the season turns its final corner, is nothing short of remarkable and inspiring.

Whether they bust out of this slump in Ottawa on Friday night and reignite their hopes in the playoff race with five games remaining, or continue to be one play away from the team that everyone wants them to be, one thing is for certain: This franchise has not had this kind of promise and potential at quarterback and head coach since Facebook was created.

Drew Willy is only 27, and this is essentially his rookie season. To be sure it would have been nice for him to finish that drive in the dying moments and pull one out of the fire — like he already has several times this year — but what are your expectations for a first-year QB? He is currently leading the league in passing yards, and has the third-highest QB rating of any pivot that has thrown more than 300 balls. Certainly you can nitpick on his TD-to-interception ratio, but in that same grouping of quarterbacks, only Ricky Ray has a better completion percentage. For an unproven player that was brought in to lead a 3-15 football team, if you can say anything definitively about Willy, it’s that he has overachieved in his debut.

Any criticism of his development and performance thus far is simply unrealistic and short-sighted.

As for the head coach — yet another freshman phenom — we have a leader that is unconditionally revered and respected by his players. It is obvious they have bought in to Mike O’Shea’s teachings and style, and love playing for him. He doesn’t offer up excuses, holds himself accountable, and has gotten more out of this football team than anyone thought possible.

No matter how October plays out, the Bombers can go into the off-season knowing who and what the foundation of their football team is.

And when you don’t have to scramble to find another handful of hopeful pivots, or have to wonder about how to get out of yet another head-coaching extension, you might be surprised by just how good this team could be by 2015.

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If they make the same strides from this year to the next, as they did from last year to this season, there is truly nothing out of the realm of possibility.

Doug Brown, once a hard-hitting defensive lineman and frequently a hard-hitting columnist, appears Tuesdays in the Free Press.

Twitter: @DougBrown97