Thank heaven for Esks and Lions

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/08/2010 (5718 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

From a purely biased perspective of all you Bomber bleeders out there, let’s begin today’s shrill-a-minute rant with a blessing. Two, actually.

They would be the B.C. Lions and Edmonton Eskimos.

Because I’m not sure what’s more depressing, frankly, the woebegone start of the 2-6 Bombers or the fact that — and this is kinda embarrassing — the local 12 would be in the CFL playoffs (barely) if the 2010 season ended tomorrow.

Um… hooray?

Let’s be more succinct: A Bombers season that started out with a modicum of promise — ah, remember that season-opening upset over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats? — is fast devolving into a pity party where only the least of the worst survive.

It’s not that the Bombers are decidedly horrid. They put up decent numbers. They’re in most games until the bitter end, which is an apt description for how most Bombers losses reveal themselves. They may well be a serious contender at full health (QB Buck Pierce, WR Terence Jeffers-Harris, S Ian Logan and LB Marcellus Bowman).

It’s just that there’s an old axiom that coaches are responsible for the first quarter of any professional football game and the players are accountable for the last.

If that’s the case, the Bombers inept starts and fourth-quarter vanishing acts are damning evidence this team isn’t just a tweak or two away from redemption.

No, the Bombers aren’t a lost cause, at least in terms of playoff prospects. But that’s only because the Lions and Eskimos (both 1-6) are even worse, allowing for the tedious possibility of a crossover berth in the West.

That scenario isn’t going to go away any time soon, given the nightmarish escapades of Wally Buono’s crew on the Left Coast and the upheaval in Edmonton.

In fact, of the Lions and Eskimos, the latter appears to be the most dire, where the only matters at hand seem to be who to fire after each mounting loss.

There has been no such panic in Winnipeg. Yet. That’s because the Bombers new administration — which replaced last year’s administration, which replaced the previous regime in 2008 — has the luxury of the traditional built-in grace period.

By "grace period" we mean the usual excuses of injury, the refs are out to get us, we’ve got to keep improving, we won’t allow that to happen again, etc., have yet to be considered repetitive and lame.

For example, how many times have these guys vowed to get off to better starts, only to find themselves down 24-0 out of the chute Thursday night in Montreal?

How many times have they insisted on needing to protect the football, only to turn the dead pig over three times in the first half against the Als, with one killer fumble by quarterback Steven Jyles being returned for a Montreal touchdown?

How many times does Jyles have to overthrow a wide open receiver downfield? How many times does Adarius Bowman have to drop a pass?

The Bombers will tell you they’re close. Close to what? They repeatedly state, after each loss, that they are beating themselves, as if the opposition is just some benign bystander.

That’s being way to easy on themselves. Seriously, you battle back from a 24-0 deficit to come within a touchdown of the Als — with Anthony Calvillo en route to the hospital on a stretcher, for Pete’s sake — and get outscored 15-0 in the final quarter with Als backup Chris Leak at the controls?

Face it, it’s not even Labour Day and the Bombers have already blown a season’s worth of gilt-wrapped opportunities they can never get back. So now the turtle race is afoot.

So feel free to get your knickers in a knot, but the reality is that until the Lions or Eskimos win a game (i.e., play each other), the Bombers post-season aspirations are alive and, er… well, alive.

In fact, the Bombers could lose another three straight and still be in the hunt.

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Some might consider that a good thing. We’d rather call it slow torture.

In July, it was all about challenging for the East title. Then it was about getting an upper hand on teams like the Argos and Tiger-Cats for a home playoff date. It all seems like wishful thinking now, and the Bombers have only themselves to blame.

Instead, barring a dramatic reversal of fortunes on Maroons Road, it’s about being better than the worst.

Go west, young Bombers. Already, it might well be the last hope left.

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca