Five storylines: Final stop on winding road awaits

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This article was published 22/11/2019 (2115 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CALGARY — When the Winnipeg Blue Bombers take the field at McMahon Stadium for Sunday’s Grey Cup bout against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, it will mark the final stop on what’s been a long and winding journey.

From a 5-0 start to the season followed by an up-and-down end, from a banged up squad to a much healthier group, adversity has been a constant with the Blue and Gold. It’s been challenging, to be sure, but it’s been their ability to get through it together that has now made it a rallying point.

“Adversity just makes you stronger and when you have a good group of men to come to work with every day you can get through it,” receiver Nic Demski said Friday before the team’s final practice.

“No matter the negatives or the positives we’ve been here for each other. It really would be the perfect ending to a crazy, roller-coaster season.”

With that, here are five storylines to keep an eye on Sunday.

THE DROUGHT BOWL

Whenever a Grey Cup game is given a nickname it’s usually dictated by Mother Nature — the 1950 Mud Bowl, the 1962 Fog Bowl and the 1996 Snow Bowl are just a few examples.

What has come to define the 107th Grey Cup is the time that’s passed since either of these teams last put their mitts on the league’s most cherished chalice. Indeed, The Drought Bowl is a fitting name for a matchup that features the two teams that have waited the longest to hoist the Grey Cup again.

Winnipeg has been the most patient; a full 29 years have passed since the 1990 Bombers laid a 50-11 beating on the Edmonton Eskimos at B.C. Place. For Hamilton, that streak is only slightly better, with its most recent title coming in 1999 — a 32-21 win over the Calgary Stampeders, also in B.C.

Both teams insist the past has no bearing on the now. But try convincing two rabid fanbases, both of which have waited anxiously to taste victory in the third week of November.

COLLAROS STORY ONE FOR THE AGES

There is no better storyline than Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros.

Collaros arrived in Winnipeg early last month, acquired in a trade with the Toronto Argonauts just minutes before the CFL’s Oct. 9 deadline.

It was the third team this year for the 31-year-old veteran after starting the season in Saskatchewan.

What Collaros has been able to do in such a short time has been incredible.

Thrown into the starter’s role after an ankle injury to Chris Streveler, Collaros cemented his No. 1 role by orchestrating a fourth-quarter comeback over the Stampeders in the final game of the regular season. Two tough road victories followed in the playoffs, knocking off the Stampeders in the West semifinal and then the Roughriders a week later to clinch a berth in the Grey Cup.

It will take a full effort to best Hamilton, but having Collaros behind centre gives Winnipeg more than a fighting chance. It also gives the Ohio native a chance to cement his legacy in a town he’s only called home for seven weeks.

LIKE MINDS PATROLLING THE SIDELINES

Earlier in the week I wrote about the ‘bromance’ between Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea and Tiger-Cats bench boss Orlondo Steinauer and how their decades-long friendship would be put on the shelf come Sunday.

While their paths are directly intertwined — a bond that includes winning Grey Cups first as teammates and then as coaches — it’s their like-mindedness that makes it no coincidence they’re meeting again, this time as foes.

Of all the qualities each man has, it’s the unwavering respect from the locker room that allows them to get the best from their players. I’ve been in a lot of locker rooms over the years covering the CFL and it’s easy to see the clear bonds that have formed on each side.

That should make for an emotional and physical affair and both teams appear locked in for a tough battle. In no other sport, it can be argued, does coaching matter more than in football. O’Shea and Steinauer know a lot about each other, but we’re about to find out who knows who best.

WHY THE TIGER-CATS WILL WIN

The Tiger-Cats were the best team in the CFL, winning 16 of their 19 games and boasting a perfect 10-0 mark at home.

Hamilton’s 15 wins in the regular season was the most in franchise history, dating back to 1950. Even more impressive is that of the three losses, which were by a combined 13 points, two came down to the final moments with Hamilton holding a lead late in the fourth quarter.

The Tiger-Cats won both games against the Bombers, with the most recent a 33-13 triumph at IG Field on Sept. 27. Hamilton led in those games for a whopping 99 minutes and 58 seconds.

Hamilton is loaded with talent in all three phases, but no one has been more impactful than Brandon Banks. The shifty receiver commonly referred to as “Speedy B” was named the league’s most outstanding player on Thursday after registering 112 receptions for 1,550 yards and 13 touchdowns — all league highs.

Their offence scored the most points per week (28.2) and their defence allowed the fewest (17.9). No team put up more offensive yards (395.8), first downs (398), or was better on second down, covering at a rate just over 50 per cent.

That’s why the Tiger-Cats will win.

WHY THE BOMBERS WILL WIN

Looking through the stats on both teams, Hamilton seems an easy pick. But count out the Bombers at your peril.

If the Bombers playoff run has proven anything it’s that they can beat good teams away from home. Winnipeg has become legitimate road warriors and has chosen to wear its white road uniforms.

The Bombers have also been playing their best football over the last few weeks. They’ve utilized a two-headed monster at quarterback — Collaros in the air; Streveler on the ground — that keeps defences guessing, and leaned on a defence that feeds off turnovers and is as confident as it’s been all season.

My guess is it will be the defence which will again be asked to carry a heavy load and there’s an area they should be able to exploit. As good as Tiger-Cats quarterback Dane Evans has been this year he has a penchant for throwing interceptions.

Of Evans’ 14 interceptions 12 have come in the last 14 games. Only Calgary had more than Winnipeg’s 24 picks and the defence has forced seven turnovers in two playoff games.

That’s why the Bombers are going to win.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton

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Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.