Big Blue are buzzard bait

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This article was published 20/09/2015 (3842 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONTREAL — It’s pretty much inexplicable. One week after the biggest win of their season, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers couldn’t have been much worse in a season-defining loss Sunday.

The Bombers are almost surely finished for the season. There will be no playoffs. No hanging on until Drew Willy can get healthy to lead them. The 35-14 loss to the Montreal Alouettes leaves a mathematical chance for this team, but no hope based on logic.

Winnipeg is now 4-8 and its next two games are against the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos. See ya. Of the six remaining games on the schedule, only the B.C. Lions provide a match that can be considered winnable for this team.

GM Kyle Walters must begin to look at next season. To get as much playing time for rookies as possible. It’s time for prospect quarterbacks Tajh Boyd and Dominique Davis to get work and begin learning the pro game.

It’s time for head coach Mike O’Shea to look hard at his coaching staff and determine who will be back and who won’t next season, and to give added duties to younger coaches he will retain.

It’s almost a given offensive co-ordinator Marcel Bellefueille won’t be back. So let Markus Howell install the game plan and let Buck Pierce call the plays from upstairs.

Don’t pretend this is anything other than what it is, Blue Bombers. It’s a lost season. Try and gain whatever positives can be gleaned from this car wreck. The Bombers are a twisted and smoking mess. So if the tires can be saved and the stereo yanked out of the dash to be recycled for next year — do it.

Predictably, O’Shea grew snarly when asked if his team and his staff were ready to pack it in.

“This is where you have to bleep this answer out. C’mon, we’ve got six games left. We’re not giving up,” stated O’Shea. “We’ve got too many good players that aren’t giving up. We’ve got a coaching staff that isn’t giving up. We’ve got fans that aren’t giving up. There’s no way we’re giving up. We’re in a position where we can win a bunch of games and still get in the playoffs. Is it one game tougher? Absolutely. We’ve got some tough opponents coming up. Oh well. We understand where we’re at and we have to overcome that.”

The season was on the line this week and the Bombers were treated like wet sacks of cement by the Alouettes. Montreal picked them up and then dropped them to the ground. Splat. Again and again and again.

Montreal won the skirmish on both lines of scrimmage, they collected 273 yards on punt and kick returns against Winnipeg’s 88 yards, their offence put together six scoring drives and their defence forced six turnovers while collecting six sacks.

The Als led 14-3 late in the second quarter before Stefan Logan fielded a punt and went 78 yards for the major. The home side left for the locker-room owning a 22-3 edge.

The second half’s opening kickoff sealed the game for the Als, as Logan went 95 yards to set up a quick touchdown pass from Jonathan Crompton to S.J. Green.

Game, set, season?

Winnipeg had played one of its best halves of football a week earlier in a win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders. They had breathed life into their season. They danced and celebrated their Banjo Bowl win and talked about building on the victory. None of that translated into an acceptable performance Sunday.

Quarterback Matt Nichols, who was so effective in his debut for the Bombers, found no rhythm and struggled to hit receivers or find them when they were open. His final line of 23 completions on 48 attempts for 189 yards with no touchdowns and one interception told the offensive story for the Bombers.

Veteran centre Dominic Picard grew emotional discussing the loss in a cramped, damp and steamy loser’s locker-room.

“It’s a tough loss, man. Turnovers, penalties, on the road. In Montreal. Especially in Montreal against that defence. You can’t do that. We tried to be physical up front early and to show character, but it wasn’t enough.

“We’re not quitting. No matter what. I want to apologize for the way we played. I took a penalty, a 15-yarder for playing past the whistle. I apologized to my teammates and I want to apologize to the fans and the organization. I love the game, it’s my passion and I play on the edge. But you can’t do this. But we’re not quitting. We can’t. We won’t.”

Of course, when you get around to answering questions about commitment and dedication, there’s usually something very wrong with the team. These Bombers are busted. Maybe O’Shea is right and they can be repaired. We’ve seen miracles in sports before.

“We have to figure out our mindset and what it is that will allow us to win two games in a row. Because we need to,” said O’Shea. “Starting now we need to figure out how to win a game and then another game.” 

O’Shea was then reminded the next Bombers matches are against the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos, arguably the CFL’s top two teams.

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“Yep. Two tough teams to win against but we have to be prepared to win them,” he said.

Of course. But let’s be very clear here. It’s going to take something other-worldly to turn this around. A miracle.

gary.lawless@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @garylawless