Blue Bombers face burden of proof in Week 4

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This article was published 15/07/2015 (4039 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

We’re headed into Week 4 of the CFL regular season and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are tied for first in the West Division.

Sound familiar? It should: That was exactly the same position the Bombers found themselves at this time last year — and we all know how that turned out.

Indeed, the Bombers actually had a better record at this time last year — they were 3-0 after the first three weeks of the 2014 season, and are 2-1 now — and yet they still found a way to stumble and bumble their way to missing the playoffs for the third consecutive year and fifth time in the last six seasons.

All of which is not to belabour this football team’s unfortunate past — you could write an encyclopedia on the subject — but rather to pose a very legitimate question: Why is it going to be different this year?

“Because it has to be. Last year wasn’t good enough — so it has to be (different),” head coach Mike O’Shea said while answering that question Wednesday at Investors Group Field.

While there is no taking away the good work the 2015 Bombers team has already accomplished this young season — Week 1 in Saskatchewan buried a lot of ghosts and last week’s victory at home over Montreal was as creative as it was gritty — Blue Bombers fans can be excused if they want to see more before once again turning over their hearts to this maddening franchise.

The good news is fans might not have to wait any longer than Saturday’s matchup against the Stampeders in Calgary to find out if this Bombers team is a real contender or yet another in a long line of pretenders. Just as, in retrospect, last year’s Week 4 matchup between the Bombers and Edmonton Eskimos provided Winnipeg fans with their first glimpse of the serious cracks in the team that ultimately sunk the ship in 2014.

We’ll get to this week’s game against Calgary in a moment, but first a quick history lesson:

Battle

The Bombers and Eskimos were both undefeated at 3-0 when they met in a battle for first place in Week 4 last year, but it didn’t prove to be much of a fight as Winnipeg was throttled 26-3 at home by the Esks in a game in which Drew Willy was sacked five times and the Bombers fail to establish a running game or figure out how to contain the opposing quarterback.

All those problems, of course, would haunt the Bombers throughout 2014 — poor pass protection, no running game, an anemic and porous defence — and Week 4 was the first real indication to fans had that the team had deep flaws and its 3-0 start had more to do with anemic opponents (three East Division teams in their first three games) than the talent on the Winnipeg side.

Flash forward a year, and it is once again unclear what to make of Winnipeg’s fast start to the regular season. While there’s never anything wrong with a 2-1 start, it’s worth noting the two wins the Bombers have this season came against teams who have a combined record of just 1-5 heading into Week 4 (Montreal is 1-2 and the Riders are 0-3) and would both be out of the playoffs if the season ended today.

And it’s equally worth noting the only team Winnipeg has played this season with a winning record at the moment — the 2-1 Hamilton Tiger-Cats — crushed the Bombers 52-26 here in Week 2.

All of which makes this weekend’s tilt at McMahon Stadium so tantalizing.

While there is never anything easy about playing in Calgary — the Bombers have won just once there since 2002 — Saturday’s contest would appear to be a winnable game for Winnipeg, coming as it does against a Stamps team that lost both of its offensive tackles for the season Monday night. The Stampeders have had a very short week of practice to try and get their act together.

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The fact Calgary is also 2-1 right now, and this weekend’s game will be a battle for first place in the West Division just adds to the subplot of the game.

O’Shea says he’s learned from last year’s debacle — after opening the season at 5-1, the Bombers lost 10 of their final 12 games to finish the 2014 regular season at 7-11 — and he says those hard lessons will serve his players well as they attempt to do what they couldn’t last year: match a strong start with a strong finish.

“The excitement,” said O’Shea, “is the potential I think we have.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek