Bombers a lost cause

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/09/2015 (3843 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

You know how when a person goes missing and they don’t turn up for awhile, there always comes a point when the authorities announce the search is now a recovery mission?

Well, you cannot help but wonder if we’re not getting very near that point with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, that moment in time when we give up all hope wondering whether the Bombers can turn this season around and instead start wondering about 2016 and who on this team should stay and who needs to go.

Yes, the Bombers showed faint signs of a pulse in a determined effort against the Calgary Stampeders Friday night.

But the end result was yet another loss, and for all the grit the Bombers showed — a quality that has been far too often lacking in a season in which they have capitulated in the face of adversity over and over again — the bottom line is a huge swath of Bombers Nation bailed on this team long before Friday night.

A stadium that holds more than 36,000 seats with the temporary seating that has been erected for the Grey Cup Game was half full — maybe — for what was an absolutely perfect fall night for football.

And it’s not like those no-shows were home watching on TV either, on a night the 1,000-pound elephant that is the Winnipeg Jets was in action at the MTS Centre against the Edmonton Oilers.

So yeah, give the Bombers an ‘A’ for effort against a team that is the undisputed class of the CFL. But the bottom line is the bottom line and for a lot of disaffected Bombers fans in, Friday night’s gritty effort was much too late and much too little.

All of which gets us back to that recovery mission: What — and who — from this underachieving team is worth saving?

GM Kyle Walters already started to tip his hand in that regard this week, locking down defensive back Bruce Johnson to a contract extension and signing linebacker Ian Wild to a three-year deal.

Middle linebacker Sam Hurl — and his Canadian passport — is growing into the position. Safety Maurice Leggett got torched again and again by Marquay McDaniel Friday, but was playing out of position at SAM linebacker and is a keeper. So too is most of the Bombers’ secondary, weak-side linebacker Khalil Bass, defensive end Jamaal Westerman and injured SAM Chris Randle, who might just have been the best player on the Bombers defence when he went down with a knee injury.

On offence, you’ve got to give credit to the Bombers’ braintrust for recognizing the diamond in the rough that is wide receiver Darvin Adams. Slotback Nick Moore, when healthy, is a go-to guy. And Clarence Denmark, when he’s fully utilized (which he hasn’t been this year) is an explosive downfield threat.

Quarterback Drew Willy is obviously the key to the whole operation — a point that’s been painfully driven home since he went down with a leg injury Aug. 9. And you have to wonder where this team would be today if they’d had Matt Nichols in place all season long to back up Willy when he went down.

And the rest? Well, for all the money this team spent in free agency this season, you are what your record says you are, and what 4-9 says — screams, in fact — is that this team is not nearly good enough to end a Grey Cup drought now in its 25th year.

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Head coach Mike O’Shea? Walters? They’re not going anywhere, whether you like that or not. Walters and O’Shea both need to own the fact they so hopelessly miscalculated the abilities of Robert Marve and Brian Brohm to provide capable QB backup, but that’s probably not a firing offence on its own and they’ll be back next season, although you’ve got to figure they’ll have a short leash.

And CEO Wade Miller? Well, the Bombers were counting on making $5 million, at least, in profits on this year’s Grey Cup to provide the team some breathing room in what’s a very tight budget. But those lofty ambitions were set before the size of this year’s Grey Cup was shrunk from 40,000-plus to 36,000-plus. And even with that reduced capacity, there were still 12,000 unsold tickets at last count.

Where there’s life, there’s hope. But both are in very short supply at IGF right now.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek