Bombers’ roller-coaster season could still thrill

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This article was published 03/11/2019 (2134 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When the Winnipeg Blue Bombers opened this season, the plan was simple, even if it was going to take a lot of work to get there.

General manager Kyle Walters said it first, head coach Mike O’Shea re-affirmed the goal throughout the season, and players understood its importance: the best way for the Bombers to snap a 28-year Grey Cup drought was to claim the West Division. The last time Winnipeg achieved that was in 2011, when they finished atop the East before losing to the B.C. Lions in the championship game.

Now that the smoke has settled on the regular season, the Bombers proved unable to achieve their goal.

With an 11-7 record, they finished in third, behind the Saskatchewan Roughriders (13-5) and Calgary Stampeders (12-6). It wasn’t until Saturday night that Winnipeg knew its fate. Saskatchewan defeated the Edmonton Eskimos to finish first, while the Stampeders edged the Lions hours later to secure second place.

Instead of earning a first-round bye and hosting the West final on Nov. 17, Winnipeg will have to win twice on the road to reach the Grey Cup, beginning with a date against the Stampeders at McMahon Stadium next Sunday. It will be the fourth time the two teams have met this year, and third over a span of less than a month.

While it ultimately meant little in the standings, the Bombers did claim the season-series over the Stampeders, winning two out of three games. All of the games were decided in four or fewer points.

The Bombers took the first game, 26-24, on Aug. 8, taking full advantage of a Stampeders team without their No. 1 quarterback – and reigning league and Grey Cup MVP – Bo Levi Mitchell. Meanwhile, Winnipeg still had a healthy Matt Nichols behind centre but banked on a stellar debut by returner Janarion Grant, who returned two punts for touchdowns in the win. The victory improved the Bombers’ record to 6-2, and snapped a two-game losing streak.

They met again more than two months later. This time, the Bombers were without their go-to gunslinger, with Nichols already ruled out for the year because of an injury to his throwing shoulder that required surgery in September.

With Chris Streveler as the starter, the Bombers fell 37-33 at McMahon Stadium. That night, O’Shea would run Streveler – both literally and figuratively – until the injuries he sustained made it too difficult to play, only to put him back in, limping and worse for wear, to lead Winnipeg to a comeback that would never unfold. Oh, and with Mitchell back for the Stampeders, the defence was torched for 337 passing yards and four touchdowns.

Predictably, as the Bombers and Stampeders prepared to meet again the following week, Streveler was too banged up to practise and was ruled out. That opened the door to veteran pivot Zach Collaros, who had been acquired in a trade with the Toronto Argonauts two weeks earlier.

In his first game in 114 days — since suffering a concussion in Week 1 while still a member of the Saskatchewan Roughriders — a spirited effort by Collaros propelled the Bombers to a 29-28 triumph at IG Field in what was Winnipeg’s final game of the regular season. Collaros completed 79 per cent of his passes for 221 yards and two touchdowns (he also threw one interception). But it was an eight-yard strike to Darvin Adams in the fourth quarter – a play in which Collaros was pushed back to Calgary’s 25, only to roll out to his right and deliver the pass on the run – that should cement the 31-year-old as the Bombers’ starter in the postseason.

The answer to that question, however, won’t be determined until Tuesday’s practice.

It’s been a roller-coaster season for Winnipeg. After opening the year 5-0, the Bombers are currently at 6-7, including losses in four of their last six games.

But with Collaros as the starter, coupled with the hope Streveler can return this week to provide a viable threat in short-yardage situations, the Bombers suddenly have hope. A lot is on the line, too, with the potential of this team looking much different next season.

Among those off-season decisions will be O’Shea’s future. It’s hard to imagine that if the Bombers lose, president and CEO Wade Miller will have an argument to bring him back. The Bombers coach isn’t under contract for next season, and another playoff loss would bring O’Shea’s postseason record to 1-4 since joining the Bombers in 2014. Not many coaches get more than six years to get it right, and fewer are afforded even more time with O’Shea’s current track record.

There will be a lot of questions about the game’s most important position. Only Sean McGuire, the Bombers’ third-string quarterback, is under contract for 2020, with both Nichols and Streveler still requiring deals.

It seems like the only way to calm the Bombers’ frustrated fans is to, at the very least, make it to the Grey Cup. Winnipeg might not have had its preferred route there, but that should make victory taste that much sweeter.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.catwitter: @jeffkhamilton