O’Shea can you see, you’re to blame for Blue plight… By: Paul Wiecek Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Monday, Jul. 16, 2018

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/07/2018 (2639 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I didn’t want to write yet another column dissecting the shortcomings of Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea any more than you wanted to read yet another column dissecting the shortcomings of Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea.

I’ve written at length and ad nauseam in this space about how I believe O’Shea’s hubris and inability to admit a mistake, much less actually learn from one, has killed this football team in the past (see West semifinals, 2016 and 2017, etc.) and will — if past performance is the most likely predictor of future performance — continue to do so as long as he remains the Bombers’ field boss.

There aren’t too many things you can count on any more in these topsy-turvy times, but O’Shea’s uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory is right up there with death and taxes, among our few remaining touchstones.

I’ve said it before, many times, and the last thing I wanted to do was to say it again here today.

But good Lord, what the hell was that on Saturday night?

I would be committing gross columnist malpractice if I did not call to your attention the staggering volume of ineptitude that was required at BC Place Saturday night for the Bombers to turn a 17-0 lead and certain victory over the Lions into one of the dumbest losses — 20-17 — that I can recall.

Now, to be sure, a lot of people had a part to play in the latest debacle.

Kicker Justin Medlock missed a 42-yard field goal in the first half that turned out to be the Lions’ margin of victory.

Quarterback Matt Nichols threw three interceptions, including one in the final two minutes that set up the game-winning Lions field goal as time expired.

The entire Bombers team took way too many penalties — nine for 86 yards — including two roughing the passer calls on the same drive that set up a fourth-quarter B.C. field goal.

But even with all that working against them, this was a winnable football game had O’Shea simply done the simple things right.

Twice in the second half, the Bombers were inside the Lions’ 10-yard line. Twice they could have kicked chip-shot field goals that would have been the margin of victory at night’s end. And twice, O’Shea elected instead to not only gamble on third down, but to do so in the dumbest imaginable way.

The first time came less than six minutes into the third quarter. With the Bombers leading 17-0 and the Bombers third down on the B.C. 2-yard line, the correct call — an absolute no-brainer — in that situation is to kick a field goal that would leave the Lions needing three converted touchdowns to beat you.

Instead, O’Shea and, presumably, offensive co-ordinator Paul LaPolice not only elected to gamble, they used a shotgun formation that saw backup QB Chris Streveler standing five yards deep in his own backfield when he took the snap, meaning he now needed to rush seven yards on the ensuing keeper instead of just two.

Predictably, Streveler gained 6 3/4 yards, the Bombers turned the ball over on downs and just like that, a Lions team that looked dead and buried suddenly had life.

Now, a lot of football head coaches might learn from that experience — “Hey, those guys over there are fired up tonight — maybe let’s not test their front-four tonight.”

Sadly, Mike O’Shea is not such a head coach.

With just six minutes remaining in the game and the Bombers clinging to a 17-10 lead, Winnipeg was third-and-one on the Lions’ 7-yard line.

Again, the correct call is an absolute no-brainer — kick the field goal that gives you a two-score lead. And again, O’Shea and LaPolice elected not only to gamble unnecessarily, but to do so in the dumbest possible way, sending Streveler on a keeper around the end instead of straight up the middle behind a push from the offensive line.

Lions defensive end Odell Willis couldn’t believe his good fortune, sacking Streveler three yards deep in the Bombers’ backfield.

The rest is history — a game-tying Lions touchdown with two minutes to play, a Nichols interception three plays later and then a 16-yard Lions field goal as time ran out for one of the dumbest losses you will ever see.

You can’t make this stuff up.

And so with that, a team that should be 3-2 and in the thick of the West Division race is instead 2-3 and in the West Division cellar.

Meanwhile, the Lions — who would otherwise have been well on their way to another lost season at 1-3 — are instead now 2-2 and talking about this as the game that turns their season around.

“We stay right in the hunt with this win,” Lions QB Travis Lulay said after the game. “This should be a great confidence-builder.”

Nothing like giving your division rival a new lease on life. That’s never worked out badly.

How big was this Lions win? Put it to you this way: I seriously wondered whether longtime Lions head coach Wally Buono — who has announced this will be his last season before retiring — could have survived it.

The Lions were as dumb as the Bombers in this one; they had the ball on the Bombers 5-yard line to end the first half and came away with nothing when they ran out of time, and Buono looked lost all game long.

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Now, I don’t know if Lions ownership would allow B.C. GM Ed Hervey to fire a league icon like Buono in his final season, but if it was going to happen this might have been the night.

Instead, Buono makes like a cat and lives to fight another day and it’s Bombers fans instead who are now left wondering how many more chances O’Shea will get before someone in management finally decides enough is enough.

Damn good question. And it’s no longer just me asking it.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek