Purging the Bombers’ brain trust is tempting, but signs of progress are there

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This article was published 03/11/2015 (3607 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It won’t be an easy sell, not by a long shot.

The obituary officially gets written on another lost campaign for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Friday in Toronto and with that will come the latest in a series of cries from their beleaguered fan base for more change.

Those demands have some serious legs, given this current regime is 0-for-2 in its attempt just to land a playoff spot, let alone end a championship drought, and has hardly wrapped itself in glory with a 12-23 record over the last two seasons.

Funny thing about all that, at least from this perch…

You see, for all the chatter over the last couple of years about the Wade Miller-Kyle Walters-Mike O’Shea regime suffering for the sins of the Joe Mack era, it could be said they will now be indirectly benefiting from those very same sins.

After all, it’s hard to preach continuity when the nameplates on the doors in the football-operations department are forever changing.

Starting over again by detonating the whole thing, as much as it might be tempting, guarantees absolutely nothing. Bombers fans should know that after watching Doug Berry be replaced by Mike Kelly, who was followed by Paul LaPolice, then Tim Burke and now O’Shea. That’s five head coaches since the 2008 season, with two of those bosses — Berry and LaPolice — getting canned within a couple of years of taking their teams to the Grey Cup game.

But as much as fans here get frustrated by the lack of progress on the blueprint — especially compared to what’s unfolding in Ottawa with the Redblacks — now there is at least some semblance of one.

The quarterback issue has been addressed with Drew Willy, although his durability and the depth behind him remains a question. Step 2, of course, is to continue surrounding Willy with enough talent and a reasonable facsimile of a CFL offence so he doesn’t exit every game with more cuts and scrapes than pass completions.

What’s just as huge is the last two first-round draft picks are also starting on the offensive line and the Canadian talent base is deeper. That, and the acknowledgement from across the CFL the Bombers’ approach — as much as it may have had its knees taken out by injuries to Willy, linebacker Chris Randle and running back Paris Cotton this year — will work given time is enough to pump the brakes on another management overhaul.

All that said, here comes the rather meaty proviso…

This football club is still way too thin in its import talent, even with the upgrades made to the scouting staff to address those perpetual needs. Defenders Johnny Adams and Khalil Bass were good finds, but the receiving corps lacks a big target and/or a burner, the defensive line doesn’t consistently get enough push other than from Jamaal Westerman — another excellent addition — and the offence hasn’t had a running back lead it in rushing in consecutive years dating back to Fred Reid from 2008-11.

The Canadian starter base is decent, with three homegrowns now starting on the offensive line in Sukh Chungh, Matthias Goossen and Patrick Neufeld and with Westerman at defensive end, but the team must seriously eyeball where to upgrade the rest because it’s still not good enough.

How would blowing up the football operations department and starting over hinder any of that, given the already lousy results?

Well, consider the Bombers were successful in landing the likes of Westerman and Stanley Bryant, among others, in free agency not just because they threw a lot of money at them, but because of a belief around the CFL that O’Shea and Walters know what they are doing.

Getting coaches, players and would-be free agents to look at the Bombers differently takes time, just as changing the gong-show rep utation it had built is a bit like trying to get a red-wine stain out of a white carpet.

An example: A Bomber football operations staffer was at a game down south recently when an NFL type approached and said, paraphrasing, “I see you guys struggled this year. So, does that mean you’re going to fire your coach again?”

Staying the course isn’t always the right move, but holding the feet of those now in charge close to the fire can be an effective motivator, too.

Besides, the approach before this — continually burning down the house just to get the smell out of the kitchen — was a size-large factor in the Bombers becoming the CFL’s point-and-laugh franchise.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPEdTait