The same old song and dance

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This article was published 18/10/2010 (5791 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONTREAL — They are valiant, give them that. And although it matters little in the black and white of the Canadian Football League standings, there is no doubt they scrap and fight and claw to the final whistle.

But based on the evidence presented in Sunday’s 22-19 loss to the Montreal Alouettes at Percival Molson Stadium, the 2010 Winnipeg Blue Bombers very much remain a seriously flawed football team.

And it sure is getting tired for everyone in Bomber Nation watch unfold week after week after week after bleepin’ week.

The same old script played out again for the Bombers against the Grey Cup champions after they built an 11-2 lead early in the second quarter before falling asleep for a long spell while the Als scored 20 unanswered points and then — again — rallying just enough to make the final moments interesting… but with the same old result: another loss.

And for those of you still scoring at home, that’s now seven losses by four points or less; eight by a TD or less. And that kind of close-but-not-good-enough ineptitude matches a league record set by the 1993 Ottawa Rough Riders and matched by the 1996 B.C. Lions.

“It’s very frustrating,” said Bombers QB Steven Jyles. “What is it, the seventh game we’ve lost like that? You can’t say it’s OK. It’s not OK. But when you’re in games like that against a good team like Montreal you just have to find a little more to finish a game.

“It’s one or two plays.”

Winnipeg falls to 4-11, two points back of both the B.C. Lions and Edmonton Eskimos — now 5-10 — in the turtle derby for the CFL’s final playoff spot. The Bombers would need to finish with more points than the Esks and Lions to advance to the postseason and have just three games remaining.

“I don’t know how many games we’ve lost like that, but it’s overwhelming,” said cornerback Jovon Johnson. “It’s a tired excuse. We’ve got to find ways to win. We controlled the game in the first half and in the second half we didn’t really force them to do what we wanted to do.

“That was one we definitely needed to put ourselves in a better position. It’s going to take a lot of hope now.”

The Bombers were in position to possibly complete another miracle rivalling last week’s magic against the B.C. Lions, but gagged in the game’s dying minutes. Trailing 22-11 and with the ball at their own seven with 1:53 left, Jyles would connect with Terrence Edwards for a 72-yard TD to make the score 22-19 with 1:13 seconds remaining, then hold the Als to a two and out to get the ball back with 51 ticks left.

Winnipeg would push the ball to Montreal’s 54, but then took an offside penalty and had their longshot end when Terence Jeffers-Harris was stripped by Chip Cox after pulling in a pass with eight seconds remaining.

That said, the late rally glossed over some inept play through most of the second and third quarters and shouldn’t mask the five turnovers the Bombers spit up and a glorious chance to bury the Als early with the ball on the Montreal five-yard line and the visitors ahead 11-2.

Instead, Jyles was intercepted at the back of the end zone after being hit as he threw.

“When you get up on the Montreal Alouettes… they’re a veteran team with a veteran quarterback, they’re going to come back in the game and that’s why you have to have as many points as possible to hold them off when they come back,” said head coach Paul LaPolice. “You knew they were going to make plays and get their plays but you have to make enough and hold them off when they struggle a little bit.”

“Montreal’s just not a team you let hang around,” added Doug Brown. “It just weighs on you. You can’t hand an offence like Montreal the opportunities we gave them. We need to capitalize. That’s been the story all season. We get opportunities in advantageous situations and we don’t cash them out.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca