Do Bombers have a budding quarterback controversy? It would be difficult for Winnipeg to sit Streveler when starter Nichols returns from injury By: Paul Wiecek Posted: 6:55 PM CDT Thursday, Jun. 28, 2018

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/06/2018 (2634 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

So here’s an interesting conundrum the Winnipeg Blue Bombers never thought they’d face this season:

If rookie quarterback Chris Streveler keeps playing as spectacularly as he has, how do the Bombers sit Streveler down when injured starter Matt Nichols stands back up?

It’s been a long time since the Bombers had a budding quarterback controversy – at least one like this.

Sure, the Bombers backup quarterback has long been the most popular man in town. And it is hardly a new thing that Bombers fans are debating whether they’d be better off with the backup guy over the starting guy.

But in recent years, that’s always been because the Bombers quarterback has either been chronically injured (Buck Pierce) or lousy (Robert Marve, Brian Brohm, Justin Goltz et al) or both (Drew Willy).

All of which is to say that to the degree the Bombers and their fans have had to choose between QBs over the years, usually that choice has been between bad and worse.

Which is what makes this budding QB controversy so unusual: If Streveler keeps doing what he’s been doing – and yes, that’s a big if – the choice facing the Bombers when Nichols is healthy enough to return would be between a guy who is putting up historically good numbers in Streveler and a guy widely regarded as one of the premier quarterbacks in the league in Nichols.

That is what’s known in technical football parlance as a freaking great problem to have. And it’s hard to believe the Bombers have it when you consider how utterly screwed they appeared to be just a few short weeks ago.

You will recall that Darian Durant – who the Bombers had signed over the winter to be their backup this season – announced he was retiring instead, but keeping his $70,000 signing bonus.

And then the revelation the Bombers would have nothing resembling an experienced backup QB this season was quickly followed by a pressing need for exactly that when Nichols went down in training camp with a knee injury that is expected to keep him out of the lineup at least two more games.

It was exactly the kind of doomstruck chain of events that always seems to afflict this Bombers franchise and for awhile it seemed like this promising 2018 CFL season was already slipping away on Winnipeg before it even began.

But that was before we all knew that Streveler, despite having never before played a down of professional football, much less Canadian football, would have a rookie debut the likes of which the CFL has almost never seen before.

Consider Streveler’s numbers heading into his third career professional game on Friday in Hamilton:

– Only three quarterbacks since 1961 have thrown for more TDs than Streveler has (six) in his first two CFL games — Joe Zuger, Jeff Garcia and Tom Wilkinson. All three of those guys are league legends.

– Streveler’s passing efficiency rating is currently second only to Bo Levi Mitchell and his QB rating is the highest of any QB to play two games this season.

– He’s got a touchdown to interception ratio of 3:1 and he’s got the best — by a mile — second down conversion rate in the entire league.

– He led the Bombers to 588 yards of total offense in a 56-10 blowout of the Montreal Alouettes last week. That’s the most yards put up by any CFL offense in a single game since 2013 and the most by a Bombers offense since 2006.

– He’s the first Bombers QB to pass for three TDs in back to back games since 2005.

– And on top of all that, he’s fourth in the league in rushing with 128 yards on the ground.

That’s not only starting QB material, it’s star starting QB material.

Now, all of this comes with a couple of caveats.

First, Montreal is a truly awful team that might not win a game all season. You could have put the St. Paul’s Crusaders QB under centre for the Bombers last week and he’d have thrown for a couple TDs. The only meaning to be drawn from that game is that new Als head coach Mike Sherman knows as little about the CFL as he knows a lot about the NFL.

And second, Streveler’s career debut in a lightning-delayed home opener against Edmonton also included two costly interceptions and saw him unable to find any traction in a fourth quarter that saw Edmonton take over and steal the victory.

All of which is to say that while Streveler has thus far made a very compelling case that he has what it takes to be a starting CFL QB, the jury is still very much out.

And that’s why Friday night’s game in Hamilton is so compelling.

The Ticats come into this one off a huge road win over Edmonton last week and are showing every indication that they are very much the real deal.

They are well coached, well quarterbacked and they’ve got a good defence that has had the benefit of two games worth of tape on Streveler to study and use this week to make a game plan.

It’d be a shock of Streveler doesn’t regress against the Ticats, but then everything about this guy has been a shock so far.

And that brings us back to where we started – what if Streveler throws up another monster game statistically against Hamilton? And another next weekend at home against the Lions?

At some point soon, Nichols is going to be healthy again and he is very much going to want his job back. And he will have every right to expect it back.

Nichols had a career season last year, posting career highs in completions, yards and touchdowns and putting up a ridiculously good 7:2 touchdown to interception ratio.

Heading into his third year in Paul LaPolice’s offense – and with some substantial personnel upgrades this year at receiver – there was every reason to expect things would only get even better for Nichols this season.

And then there’s this: Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea has long said that no one on his roster should lose their job because of injury.

But of course that was before he had an injury replacement, at the most important position on the field, putting up historic numbers.

So what does O’Shea do if Streveler keeps doing what he’s been doing?

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TSN’s football insiders Dave Naylor and Farhan Lalji debated that exact question earlier this week.

Lalji argued there’s no way Nichols doesn’t get his job back when he’s healthy enough to do it, for all the reasons I’ve just laid out. And he’s probably right – O’Shea is fiercely loyal and the guy has earned a shot to pick up where he left off.

But with a backup like Streveler on the sidelines, you’d have to figure that when he does finally return to the playing field, the footsteps Nichols will be hearing won’t just be from opposing defensive linemen.

email: paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek