Deja Blue all over again By: Jeff Hamilton Posted: 12:37 AM CST Monday, Nov. 20, 2023 Last Modified: 6:07 AM CST Monday, Nov. 20, 2023 Updates

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This article was published 20/11/2023 (658 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

HAMILTON – From dynasty to devastation.

It was supposed to be a tale of redemption, with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers cementing their place in the annals of CFL greatness. A rare dynasty in the modern era of three-down football.

Instead, it’s once again a story of disappointment and despair.

For a moment, it looked like the Bombers would find themselves on the right side of a thrilling back-and-forth Grey Cup championship here Sunday. They led the Montreal Alouettes for most of the game and then fell behind in the dying minutes, only to regain the lead again.

Until a scrappy Montreal Alouettes club that had been counted out all season stole it from them —a sequel to Winnipeg’s crushing loss to the Toronto Argonauts in the CFL final a year ago.

A 19-yard Tyson Philpot touchdown reception with 13 seconds left proved to be the final dagger, breaking the hearts of an entire locker room as the Alouettes earned a 28-24 victory to claim the 110th Grey Cup.

“You play to win the game, play to win the last one and we came up short,” an emotional Zach Collaros said after the game, the veteran quarterback’s eyes watering. “Just really sad. There’s just a lot of good guys in the locker room, guys that might not be able to play again. You want to win for them.”

Losing doesn’t just bring heartache, it can often bring change, too.

The Bombers were never going to look the exact same next year but with an aging core and simply the reality of a league where heavy turnover is the norm, there’s potential for a significant change in the locker room next season. Of the key starters on this year’s roster, only Collaros, linebacker Kyrie Wilson and receivers Kenny Lawler and Nic Demski are under contract in 2024.

Strapped by a non-football operations cap, with general manager Kyle Walters and assistant general managers Ted Goveia and Danny McManus all in need of new deals next season, there could be a massive shift in management next year as well.

Professional sports is unforgiving, that’s part of the deal. But it can also be downright cruel.

Fact is, dynasties are built on winning. Losing back-to-back years after winning two league titles, while impressive, doesn’t reach the threshold of lasting greatness.

“I don’t know if guys will remember the score,” Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said. “They’ll remember we lost, and they’ll also remember their teammates putting in everything they had when they stepped onto the field.”

It won’t matter that last year’s defeat against the Argonauts was by a single point, and this year’s loss equally as nail-biting. The Bombers never talked about being a dynasty, they preferred to show it and silver linings are just not in their vocabulary.

But while history might not put the 2019-23 Blue Bombers in the same conversation as Bud Grant and the 1958-62 Bombers — who won four titles in five years — or the Edmonton team from 1978-82 that captured five in a row, there’s still plenty be proud of with this group.

There’s a responsibility that comes with winning as much as the Bombers have over this remarkable four-season stretch. There’s the pressure to win from fans, but even that pales in comparison to the internal expectations, where over the years, and particularly this season, winning has been more of a relief sometimes than jubilation.

“I’m bummed for the guys the last two years that we haven’t won. It does take a lot to get here and a lot of work and sacrifice. It’s been an honour, bro,” said a somber receiver, Drew Wolitarsky. “I just have so much respect and love for these guys. I really just envisioned just celebrating with this team, like this s—- felt like destiny, it really felt like destiny to win with this team. Everything felt like it was meant to be with this team. Just with who we had, the guys we had, the feeling we had. It’s really just hitting me that we lost.”

“I’m bummed for the guys the last two years that we haven’t won. It does take a lot to get here and a lot of work and sacrifice. It’s been an honour, bro.”–Drew Wolitarsky

There’s an even greater responsibility with being this good for this long, and it has nothing to do with what happens on the field. The CFL is a league that prides itself on accessibility, and when you play in a football hotbed like Winnipeg, the demand is even higher.

And while other teams might scoff at being too public, this era of Bombers fully embraced it. Simply put, they made Winnipeg home.

They always stayed after practice to sign autographs and speak with fans. They planned and went to events across the province of Manitoba, including touring up north talking about important issues like bullying, domestic violence and substance abuse.

Some came to Winnipeg and made it home year-round, reminding us of the old CFL days when that was more commonplace. They started families here or grew them.

They came to define who we are as a city, what it truly meant to be a proud Winnipegger. That’s definitely a legacy worth remembering, even if the pain of defeat is still fresh.

“We’re always going to take pride in what we’ve done together. This is a family,” said linebacker Adam Bighill, who rallied from a torn calf in the Western Final to be a last-minute add-on Sunday. “We love everybody in this locker room. That’ll never change, and we don’t need a win or loss to tell you any of that. There’s no doubt I’m proud of all these guys in here.”

Credit also belongs to the Alouettes, who authored one of the most impressive single-season turnovers in league history. No one thought they would be here back in March when they lost their owner and the CFL had to take control of their finances.

The franchise’s instability led to free agents not wanting to sign there, while No. 1 quarterback Trevor Harris and top receiver Geno Lewis opted for seemingly greener grass elsewhere because they didn’t know what the future had in store.

Montreal general manager Danny Maciocia was criticized for his decision to bring on Jason Maas as head coach, as well as signing quarterback Cody Fajardo, both of whom were cast aside by the Saskatchewan Roughriders as scapegoats for a playoff-less season in 2022.

The Alouettes finished the year 11-7, good enough for second in the East Division. They defeated the Grey Cup host Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Eastern semi-final before stunning the 16-2 Argonauts a week later to win the East. It was the first time they had defeated a team with a winning record.

“This is a moment we’ve all been thinking about and dreaming about all year. We’ve done the work to be here,” Maas would say earlier this week, just one of his answers to how he planned to beat the seemingly superior Bombers. “We’re going to coach them like hell and they’re going to play like hell. We’re going to do everything possible to get this win.”

“They won the Grey Cup. They won it as a team.”–Jermarcus Hardrick

And they did. In a fashion that looked eerily similar to the 2019 Bombers, the season that kick off their run of CFL dominance.

“Much respect, man. They’re the best team in the league,” said Bombers right tackle Jermarcus Hardrick. “They won the Grey Cup. They won it as a team.”

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jeffkhamilton