Bombers costly miscues, wild comeback all part of season-ending loss

MONTREAL — The final whistle had blown and a dejected Brady Oliveira was crouched down near midfield staring at a scoreboard that read “ALS 42 WPG 33.”

Losing Saturday’s East semifinal in Montreal ended the Blue Bombers’ season and now forces them to watch a different team hoist the silver mug at Princess Auto Stadium in two weeks.

It also means their incredible streak of five consecutive Grey Cup appearances will not hit six — which would’ve tied a CFL record with the Edmonton dynasty (1977-82).

“I just wish it could’ve been next year that we could’ve lost. The Grey Cup, this year at home, it’s all I wanted, man,” said Oliveira.

The offseason starts now for the Blue and Gold, and it will certainly be a busy one with lots of questions that need answering.

Before we fully shift the focus to the future, let’s revisit Saturday’s result with 5 Takeaways.

Costly mistakes

Two blunders towards the end proved to be too much for the Bombers to overcome.

Down 32-30 with 12 minutes remaining, Oliveira started a drive with a costly fumble to give the ball back to the Als in scoring position.

Two plays later, defensive end Willie Jefferson sacked Davis Alexander for a 12-yard loss on second down to knock Montreal out of field goal range, but his hand got caught in the quarterback’s facemask and he was flagged for 15 yards.

Fast forward another two plays, the Als found the end zone off a seven-yard run by Stevie Scott III to take a 39-30 lead.

If Oliveira had taken care of the football, and/or if Jefferson had made a clean play, it’s a strong possibility this game gets decided on the final possession.

Disappointing defence

For the Bombers to escape Montreal with a victory, they needed their defence to pitch a gem.

Not an easy task, especially going up against a potent offence like Montreal’s, but outside of the two turnovers at the start of the third, the group looked nothing like the one that allowed the fewest offensive points in the CFL.

They surrendered five passes for 30 or more yards and had a 39-yard pass interference call go against them. In the regular season, the Bombers allowed 1.5 30-plus yard passing plays per four quarters on average.

They weren’t any better against the run, either.

If there’s one knock on the Als, it’s their ground game. They average just 85.9 rushing yards per contest which is the second lowest mark in the three-down loop.

Scott III is an average tailback who had 418 yards and one TD in 10 games. But on Saturday, he was a stud, shredding Winnipeg for a career-high 133 yards and two touchdowns.

Defensive co-ordinator Jordan Younger’s unit was exposed for 556 yards of net offence.

Kudos to Collaros

Zach Collaros did not play well this season.

He even admitted it in Sunday’s press conference back at home.

And while he did fumble and throw a pick (although it was at the end when the game was already over) in Montreal, the 37-year-old rose to the occasion and gave the Blue and Gold a chance to win.

With his favourite target Nic Demski ruled out at the last minute with a hamstring injury, Collaros was forced to work with maybe the most underwhelming receiving room he’s had in his six seasons in Winnipeg.

Expectations were low for the passing attack and yet, Collaros still managed to push the ball down the field — something he struggled with in recent weeks — in the second half.

He hit Ontaria Wilson for a 54-yard score in the third and connected with Keric Wheatfall — who has been wildly inconsistent this season but led the team in receiving on Saturday with 104 yards on five catches — for a 53-yard play to set up a field goal with seven minutes remaining to cut Montreal’s edge down to 39-33.

He wasn’t perfect, but considering the circumstances, the veteran pivot performed as well as anyone could have expected him to – especially considering he didn’t get much help from Oliveira. The Winnipegger was limited to eight carries for 38 yards and one catch for 19. Collaros went 19-for-26 with 306 yards.

Second-half surge

Anyone who says they still believed in the Big Blue at the half is probably lying because they looked like no match for the dominant Als at that point.

To their credit, though, they didn’t roll over.

In the span of six minutes, rookie safety Cam Allen picked off Alexander, corner Jamal Parker Jr. forced Tyson Philpot to fumble, and the Bombers’ offence scored three straight touchdowns to take an improbable 27-25 lead.

They still lost in the end, but the way they fought back certainly changed the narrative about this game and, to some extent, the season.

A blowout would’ve had most supporters clamouring for a major roster overhaul.

The streak ends

How should this run dating back to 2019 be remembered?

“Legendary,” is how Jefferson summed it up postgame.

And he’s not wrong. They certainly left some meat on the bone, but a decade ago, it felt unfathomable that the Bombers could go the distance five times in a row.

Now an even more important question needs to be asked — where do they go from here?

Collaros has made it clear he wants to keep playing and is under contract for 2026, but this core isn’t getting any younger. Left tackle Stanley Bryant (39), guard Patrick Neufeld (36), and defensive tackle Jake Thomas (34) can only put off retirement for so much longer and are without deals for 2026. The never-ending list of players with contracts set to expire (an annual thing in the CFL as most players sign one-year deals) also includes Oliveira, Demski, Jefferson, receiver Dalton Schoen, centre Chris Kolankowski, halfbacks Deatrick Nichols and Evan Holm, dime back Redha Kramdi, cornerbacks Demerio Houston and Parker, defensive end James Vaughters, linebacker Kyrie Wilson, and kicker Sergio Castillo, among others.

It’ll also have to be discussed whether first-year offensive co-ordinator Jason Hogan should be brought back.

Before any decisions get made, there needs to be clarity on the two guys who call the shots with the roster. The first chips that need to fall will be head coach Mike O’Shea and general manger Kyle Walters, who are both on expiring contracts.

The stage is set for there to be a massive shakeup in Bomberland, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that change will be aplenty.

Both Collaros and Jefferson said that they don’t think this run of dominance is necessarily over. Delusional? Maybe, but with everything the above names have accomplished, perhaps most deserve at least one more kick at the can.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca