Bombers of ’93 likely the best to not hoist Cup

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/06/2009 (5940 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One of the approaches utilized this pre-season by coach Mike Kelly has been to unmask the history of this football club and to reveal how, back in the day, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were seemingly always in contention for the Grey Cup.

Players have been brought in from the championship runs of this franchise to speak to us about how things used to be when they played for this storied club that has won 10 league championships since its inception.

But as someone who has played on this team for nine years and not won a Grey Cup, the team that really caught my attention and interest was the 1993 Blue Bombers, because I felt I could relate to them.

I have heard from at least three different football authorities that the ’93 Bombers were the best team ever to NOT win a championship.

It’s human nature to like to think you were part of something that was the “best ever,” and when I heard that that ensemble of players was “the best team to never win a Grey Cup,” I felt I had experienced something along those lines my first year with this ball club in 2001.

Of course, most debates about “best-ever” sporting teams centre around which championship teams would have won had they ever squared off or played in the same era, but since our football club has been in a drought since 1990, “the best team to never win a Grey Cup” is as close as I can get.

So how do you compare two different teams that played eight years apart and in different eras to truly determine who left more potential unfulfilled?

We could start with the records of the 1993 and 2001 squads, but that would lead you nowhere fast as both teams finished the season a remarkable 14-4.

But since the ’01 Bombers won 12 in a row and benched a number of starters in Week 18 in that fabled game against Calgary that ended up biting them in the championship, they have a slight edge when it comes to their win-loss record.

Looking at offence, there were some mighty impressive names you could drop from both of these two teams. At the pivot spot, the 1993 Bombers had the likes of Matt Dunigan who threw for 4,682 yards and 36 TDs. The 2001 Bombers had an upstart Khari Jones at the helm, who put up very impressive numbers throwing for 4,545 yards and 30 TDs. Though Jones had a better completion percentage than Dunigan (60 to 55 per cent), you have to give the edge to Dunigan based on his numbers and the fact that he threw six fewer interceptions to boot.

Both teams had a very impressive receiving corps with the 1993 Bombers showcasing a pair of wideouts like Gerald Wilcox who caught 79 passes for 1,340 yards and 10 TDs, and David Williams who caught 84 passes for 1,144.

The ’01 Bombers had Bobby “Gorgeous” Gordon, Arland Bruce, and of course, Milt Stegall who caught 81 passes for 1,214 that year. Though the numbers favour the ’93 Bombers, I give the edge to the 2001 team simply because, well, Milt Stegall was on it.

Overall when you look at the total production of these two offences, the 1993 team, orchestrated by then-offensive co-ordinator Mike Kelly, was an unstoppable juggernaut. They scored 646 points on the season and averaged 413 yards of offence each and every game. They also averaged 5.4 yards a rush that year, but that came as little surprise after I saw that their offensive line was comprised of earth-movers like Chris Walby, Dave Black, Miles Gorrell, Brett MacNeil and Dave Vankoughnett.

The 2001 Bombers were no slouches on offence, putting up 509 points on the year and an average of 375 yards a game, but even with first-year Charlie Roberts and a three-pronged rushing attack averaging 5.1 yards a carry on the ground, the total offence, and especially the offensive line, was superior in 1993.

Defensively, the 2001 Bombers were beasts against the run, allowing only 4.1 yards per carry and an average of 77 yards per game. The 1993 Bombers were not so strong stopping opposing ground games, surrendering 117 yards per game, but their air attack was simply awesome, registering some 37 interceptions and 50 sacks while the ’01 Bombers only chalked up 24 interceptions and 33 sacks.

But what matters most on defence at the end of the day is how many points you surrender and while the 1993 club gave up 421 points, the ’01 squad only allowed 383.

So after much deliberation it appears that then-head coach and general manager Cal Murphy may have had a point when he called his ’93 squad the best team to never win a Grey Cup, though the figures and eras are still pretty debatable and we will never really know.

Then again, I’m all for moving forward and being part of a debate between teams that have won a Grey Cup.

Doug Brown, always a hard-hitting defensive lineman and frequently a hard-hitting columnist, appears Tuesdays in the Free Press.