Bombers GM frustrated by CFL playoff structure

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This article was published 17/11/2017 (2913 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kyle Walters wasn’t looking at the CFL’s playoff format as an excuse. But after another year of strong regular-season play, only to have an early exit in the postseason, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers general manager admits his club doesn’t deserve its fate.

“It’s frustrating. If I can be perfectly honest, it’s frustrating from an organizational standpoint, where we finished with 11 wins last year and were rewarded with a trip to a 12-win football team (in the B.C. Lions),” said Walters, during his post-season news conference Friday at Investors Group Field. “We finished with 12 wins this year, second best record in the CFL, and our reward is playing another 12-win team that is rolling and completely healthy and a damn good football team.

“If you were to rank it or we were in the East, we would have been hosting the Eastern Final the last two years. Yes, it’s frustrating, especially when, organizationally – and rightfully so – we’re being held accountable for not winning a playoff game. People are potentially going to lose their jobs because of our inability to win Grey Cups.”

That response was spurred by a question as to whether the playoff format is flawed. Currently, the winner of each division – East and West – gets a bye to the divisional final, which they host at their own field. The second-place team on each side hosts the divisional semifinal against the third-place club. In the event one division’s fourth-place team has a better record than the other’s third-place club, that team would move over to the other division in what’s called a crossover.

What the problem Walters and many others around the league have voiced over the past couple of years, is due to a much more competitive division in the West teams that finish second and third place in the division have been much more skilled teams than their counterparts in the East.

For example, the Bombers finished 12-6 this season – good for second place in the West, behind the 13-4-1 Calgary Stampeders – and were forced to play the Edmonton Eskimos, who also finished 12-6, but lost the tiebreaker to Winnipeg. The Saskatchewan Roughriders, meanwhile, finished fourth in the West at 10-8, and were “rewarded” with a semifinal matchup against the Ottawa Redblacks, who wrapped up the regular season with an 8-9-1 mark.

The Roughriders defeated the Redblacks on Sunday and are set to play the top team in the East, the 9-9 Toronto Argonauts. The Eskimos, with the win over the Bombers, are in line to face Calgary this week.

“It is what it is, and it’s not complaining. Our job is to beat Edmonton and then go on the road and beat Calgary but yeah, with the second-best record in the CFL, it’s frustrating,” said Walters. “You look at the overall rankings of the CFL right now and you have the No. 1 team hosting the No. 3 team and the No. 5 team hosting the No. 4 team. So when you’re not playing, you get a little pissy about it and a week after losing, you’re still grumpy about it.”

Walters said he doesn’t have a solution and by all accounts tried his best not to appear to be chewing on sour grapes. “We put together 12 wins and the hand that drew in the playoffs was to play Edmonton at home and we didn’t get the job done, and that’s that,” he said.

Still, it was hard for Walters to comprehend a league that doesn’t reward a team with its second-best record with at least a home playoff game in the divisional final, giving them a better shot at competing for the Grey Cup.

“These discussions are for smarter guys than me up top,” said the Bombers GM. “We’re just football guys and you do what you’re told and play who you’re supposed to play. It doesn’t matter where you play or who you play, you’re supposed to win the football game and we didn’t, that’s the bottom line.

“You can still get a little bit frustrated when you think about it big-picture wise of what I’m held accountable for, what (head coach) Mike (O’Shea) is held accountable for, what his staff is held accountable for, which is wins.”

Some have suggested breaking up the two divisions to form just one group. CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie has admitted this season he’s more of a traditionalist, preferring to have the two divisions, but said it’s something the league will talk about come the end of the season. Those against the idea of one division or any change to the current format, argue it would result in diminishing fan bases out east.

Had the current structure not been in place, a number of teams, including the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who started the season 0-8, would have been eliminated from the playoff midseason instead of having a fighting chance, as they did, down the stretch. The Redblacks defeated Calgary to win the 2016 Grey Cup, finishing first in the East that year at 8-9-1.

“A lot of it has to do with what’s good for the league, what the league wants from a fan base, what puts butts in stands, what has monetary value,” said Walters. “That trumps me saying ‘I wish we had a bye this week.’ For the good of the league, you do what you’re told. My comments here are based more out of frustration than what I really care about is good for the league.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.catwitter: @jeffkhamilton