Bombers, Als play for (almost) all the East marbles Saturday

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This article was published 18/10/2011 (5160 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Make no mistake: Saturday’s first-place showdown with the Montreal Alouettes is one of the most important regular-season games in the 58-year-old history of Canad Inns Stadium.

Unfortunately, this significance arrives at the worst possible time for the home side.

In a 2011 CFL campaign dotted with weekly contenders and pretenders, it’s the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (9-6) who are in a terrible funk right now — despite clinching a post-season spot and zeroing in on a home playoff date for the first time since the 2008 season.

Need proof? Then you haven’t really been paying attention.

Take off the Blue and Gold tinted glasses for a second and you’ll see the Bombers’ record has been nothing to brag about since the Swaggerville T-shirt making machine was cranking out the bravado at full power back in August.

Try this on: Loss, loss, win, loss, loss, win, loss.

Yes, the two victories were impressive road outings in Montreal and Hamilton but just as the one loss to Calgary over the 7-1 start was said to be just a tiny blip on the radar, those wins in this recent sample size are now the exception to the Bombers’ progression, not the rule.

“We’ve come into a difficult stretch of the season,” offensive lineman Glenn January offered. “This kind of stuff happens in a season; there’s going to be ebbs and flows, ups and downs.”

Fair enough. Confidence, the players say, is stirred, not shaken. But two wins in seven tries heading into the biggest game of the season sounds off alarm bells, and as the losses pile up and the inconsistent play finds frequency — a 24-10 regression versus the Eskimos the latest example of Winnipeg’s gridiron downturn — there are more questions than answers.

Contenders like Montreal, B.C. and Edmonton have taken steps forward, it appears.

Have the Bombers taken steps back?

“I don’t know,” a dour quarterback Buck Pierce said Sunday morning. “We just made things a little harder on ourselves, I guess.”

In black and white terms, here are the stakes for the Blue and Gold Saturday:

— The Alouettes (10-5) — winners of four straight games — hold a one game lead over the Bombers for first in the East. Both clubs count wins against each other, so this is the tiebreaker for division positioning at the end of the schedule.

— A Winnipeg victory pulls the Bombers up and past Montreal in the standings (thanks to the tiebreaker) and gives Winnipeg complete control for the final two games. Win out and they’ll grab first place.

— An Alouettes victory creates a little more finality. A win gives the two-time defending Grey Cup champs first place in the division and a first-round bye in the playoffs. Not only that, it would be a crushing penthouse eviction for the Bombers entering the post-season, as the team has lived large in East luxury all year long.

It’s this shade of grey that underlines the importance of this game for Winnipeg. The rewards in the standings (and in the locker-room) are certainly great with a win; the brutal disappointment spinoffs from a loss are equally as great.

Or is it grave?

Either way, some players say they’re just happy to be playing in a meaningful regular-season game with a playoff spot already in their back pocket. No doubt that will be part of the message from the coaching staff, as they’ll try to take some of the pressure off when the club returns to practice this morning.

Enjoy the ride. Embrace the occasion.

“This is what it’s all about,” safety Ian Logan said. “There’s nothing worse then being at the end of the year and having the games not mean anything.”

No issues there. Saturday matters and now, as the September swoon spills into October and after nearly an entire season spent wondering if this team actually has what it takes, we get to truly see what the Bombers are made of.

adam.wazny@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @wazoowazny