Regular season coming down to the wire

Will the Winnipeg Blue Bombers make the playoffs this year?

It’s a question that would have been laughable at the start of the 2025 CFL season, and would have been met with a similar sense of disbelief even a week ago.

But with just two weeks remaining in the regular-season schedule, the Bombers have not yet punched their ticket to the post-season. They had the chance this past weekend, only to fall to the Edmonton Elks in a game they deserved to lose.

The loss couldn’t have come against a worse team, as it’s the Elks nipping at the Bombers’ heels. Edmonton looked completely out of the playoff picture just a month ago, but back-to-back wins have given them a shred of hope.

The Elks improved to 7-9 with the win over Winnipeg and are now just two points back of the Bombers (8-8), with both clubs having two more games left to play. Winnipeg has a significant edge by owning the season-series tiebreaker; if the Elks are to leapfrog the Bombers in the standings, they’ll have to possess a better record.

However, there’s one small caveat.

In the event there’s a four-way tie at 9-9 between the B.C. Lions, Calgary Stampeders, Bombers and Elks, a new tiebreaker would be triggered, with the order then determined by who has the best overall win percentage against the other tied teams. In this scenario, Winnipeg would finish fifth in the West and be eliminated from playoff contention, while the Elks would finish fourth and crossover to the East.

The good news for the Bombers is they still control their destiny. They also have a much easier schedule ahead of them, facing the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Montreal Alouettes — two teams that have little to play for when it comes to their positions in the standings.

The Riders have already clinched the West and will likely rest several starters, including No. 1 quarterback Trevor Harris. There’s a chance the Alouettes will still be playing for first in the East Division by Week 21, but that’s only if the Hamilton Tiger-Cats choke in their season finale against the Ottawa Redblacks — a game that would seal first place with a win and happens a day earlier.

Meanwhile, the Elks have two tough opponents to finish out the year, starting with a road date against the surging Lions, followed by a matchup with the Stamps. Both games will have playoff implications.

In other words, if the Bombers don’t make the playoffs under these conditions, they don’t deserve to be there. As for the Elks, what a story that would be for a club many had already ruled out weeks, if not months ago.

Now, let’s see what else caught my attention in the latest CFL Rundown.

1) The Roughriders clinched the West with a win over the Toronto Argonauts, who stuck around for much of the game despite several regulars out of the lineup. It’s the first time the Riders have finished first in the division since 2019, their Grey Cup hopes ending that year with a Cody Fajardo pass off the uprights. Saskatchewan hasn’t been playing its best football of late, even if they have been winning. They are 5-1 over their last six games, but all five victories have been decided by one score. The Riders are my pick to come out of the West, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were upset in the Western final.

2) Shortly after clinching the division, the Roughriders announced that they had extended the contracts of general manager Jeremy O’Day and head coach Corey Mace through the 2028 season. That’s a smart move for the Riders organization, if only for the timing. If the Riders go on to win the Grey Cup this season, whatever pay raise the duo got in this deal would only get higher. And if you think Saskatchewan is about to go on a run similar to the Bombers, then this deal is bound to look like a massive steal. It’s also a win for O’Day and Mace, both of whom get notable financial security in an otherwise shaky industry.

3) Was anyone else wondering how Argonauts quarterback Jarret Doege was allowed to continue playing in that game? The Argos third-stringer had his head bounce off the turf twice, resulting in the league’s injury spotter taking him out of the game on both occasions to check for a suspected concussion. I’m no doctor, but Doege looked seriously messed up after the second hit, exhibiting the kind of where-the-heck-am-I body language you hate to see when someone takes a serious hit to the head. For a league that likes to pride itself on player safety, this felt like anything but.

4) The Calgary Stampeders finally showed some life, snapping a four-game losing streak with a dominant 37-20 triumph over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. It was a surprisingly strong showing for the slumping Stamps, but perhaps this is a sign of better times ahead. That it was on the road — against a Ticats club able to clinch the East with a win — only adds strength to the argument. But no one has been more inconsistent of late than Calgary, going from one of the best teams in the league in the first half to one of the worst in recent months. At this point, it’s anyone’s guess how they fare come playoffs.

5) Count me in the group that scratched their heads when the Elks punted with 10 seconds remaining, up 25-20 and facing third-and-two on Winnipeg’s 42-yard line. The game ended on the next play, with a Brady Oliveira run attempt, sealing the win for Edmonton. I understand Elks head coach Mark Kilam’s logic being that securing the win was top priority — which makes sense. After all, had the Bombers forced a turnover and scored a miraculous touchdown with what little time remained, Edmonton’s season would have been over. However, going for it could have paid massive dividends. If they had scored a TD and then converted the ensuing two-point convert — no easy task, mind you — it would have evened the season series, as both teams would have won by a 13-point margin. That swing would have actually given the Elks the season series tiebreaker and significantly improved their playoff chances. All things considered, it seemed worth the risk.

6) It’s been alarming to see the weak crowds at Roughriders and Elks games. You got the feeling TSN was doing everything it could not to broadcast the empty seats at Commonwealth Stadium, with the Elks drawing a measly 15,013 against the Bombers. To be clear, that’s tickets sold and not the number of people who actually showed up. While the number was significantly better in Saskatchewan, with an announced crowd of 27,500 at Mosaic Stadium, the expectations are also a lot higher. The Riders were able to clinch the West, yet that still wasn’t enough to pack the house. The club’s top brass appears to have got the message, with team president and CEO Craig Reynolds telling the assembled media this week that he’ll make sure the Western final is sold out.

7) There was a bit of drama this week regarding the upcoming Grey Cup Festival in Winnipeg after news broke that passes for the three-day festival had sold out. The Bombers have since announced that additional passes will go on sale but warned that supply is extremely limited. The three-day passes give fans access to the concert series, as well as the team parties, which run from Thursday through Saturday. Passes went on sale in July, but only after most of them were purchased by those who bought Grey Cup tickets or have season tickets.

Jeff.Hamilton@freepress.mb.ca