‘We just couldn’t get off the field’

There was no way the Hamilton Tiger-Cats were going to get embarrassed in Winnipeg again.

Their last trip to the Manitoba capital — on Sept. 27, 2025 — ended in a 40-3 beatdown at the hands of the Blue Bombers.

On Thursday night at Princess Auto Stadium, the Ticats flipped the script, handing the Blue and Gold a 37-27 loss in front of a sold-out crowd.

“I could see it the entire week of practice, I could see it on the travel — things were different, guys were locked in,” said Ticats quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell after the game.

Both Winnipeg and Hamilton are now 1-1 on the year.

The Bombers will have time to lick their wounds and search for answers as they enter their first bye week. They’ll return to action on June 25 when they host the Edmonton Elks.

Before we kick our feet up and enjoy the break, let’s revisit this one with the latest edition of 5 Takeaways.

Dreadful defence

This Bombers defence has been as reliable as a brick wall in recent years.

Two games into 2026, that wall is starting to look a lot more like paper-mâché.

They’ve finished each of the last five seasons with the fewest offensive points allowed, but early signs suggest that streak could be in jeopardy.

Mitchell ripped the Bombers’ secondary to shreds in the first half, completing 15 of 19 passes for 233 yards and three touchdowns. Linebacker Tony Jones sacked him in the fourth quarter, but outside of that, nobody — not even Week 1 hero Jake Ceresna — consistently got in his face.

“Man, Bo was being Bo,” said Bombers cornerback Jonathan Moxey. “He’s a veteran, he’s gonna let it fly, so, we just got to look at ourselves and find a way to get better to limit some of that.”

The secondary has been shaky at best, but the run defence has been even worse. Last year, Winnipeg held opponents to 94.1 rushing yards per game. This season, both Calgary and Hamilton have piled up 171 rushing yards against them.

On paper, the Bombers remain loaded with talent at every level of the defence, which raises the question: are cracks beginning to appear in defensive co-ordinator Jordan Younger’s scheme?

Clutch gene lacking

We’re not done talking about this defence just yet.

In Week 1, they allowed Stampeders quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. and Co. march 104 yards on a 15-play drive and take a 28-27 lead with one minute remaining. Fortunately for Winnipeg, that still left enough time for the offence to answer and set up Sergio Castillo’s walk-off 38-yard field goal.

On Thursday, Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros wasn’t afforded the same opportunity because the defence failed to make a stop with the game on the line.

Leading 34-27 with 2:12 remaining, Hamilton drove 61 yards to allow Marc Liegghio seal the deal with a chip shot. The drive was highlighted by a 22-yard scramble from backup quarterback Tre Ford and a 30-yard completion from Mitchell to Kiondré Smith.

“It hurts. In a crucial drive like that when we’re down one possession, we want to get that stop but we didn’t operate as a unit how we were supposed to,” said linebacker Tony Jones.

“We just couldn’t get off the field.”

The defence’s inability to deliver in the biggest moments of back-to-back games is discouraging, to say the least.

Vintage Collaros

It wasn’t all bad for Winnipeg.

Quarterback Zach Collaros did his part, completing 28 of 35 passes for 421 yards — his highest total since throwing for 432 yards against Edmonton on Sept. 27, 2024 — along with two touchdowns and one interception.

His favourite target was Tommy Nield, who finished with a career-high 111 yards on seven receptions.

“Zach and our receivers played incredible,” said Oliveira. “When Zach’s on and the receivers are on like that, good things are going to happen.”

The veteran pivot likely lost some sleep over his lone turnover, though.

With just over a minute remaining in the first half and the Bombers inside Hamilton’s 20-yard line, Collaros forced a pass toward a covered Pokey Wilson in the end zone. Safety Stavros Katsantonis made the interception, and the Ticats later turned that momentum into a field goal to take a 24-10 lead into halftime.

Rountree rallies back

Who could have predicted Larry Rountree III would nearly quadruple Brady Oliveira’s rushing output?

The former Los Angeles Charger had a forgettable CFL debut last week, managing just 23 yards on eight carries against Montreal. On Thursday, he gashed the Bombers for 124 yards on 23 attempts.

With Winnipeg trailing for much of the game and Collaros airing it out, Oliveira finished with eight carries for 32 yards. He still made an impact through the air, recording six catches for 51 yards.

It was Oliveira’s lowest rushing total since last year’s Labour Day Classic, when he carried five times for 24 yards.

Revenge game

Keric Wheatfall showed flashes of brilliance — along with some long forgettable stretches — during his two seasons in Winnipeg.

His inconsistency led the Bombers to let him walk in free agency, and he signed with Hamilton.

Clearly motivated against his former team, Wheatfall made the Bombers pay with three catches for 102 yards in the first half. It was a much-needed bounce-back performance after his overtime fumble against Montreal in Week 1.

“Come on down to Hamilton,” said Wheatfall with a laugh in a post-game interview with TSN, mocking Willie Jefferson’s trademark saying.

Wheatfall is one of three former Bombers receivers now catching passes from Mitchell. Kenny Lawler was surprisingly quiet with just two catches for 17 yards, though he also drew a 28-yard pass interference penalty. Myron Mitchell, who struggled to crack Winnipeg’s lineup as a rookie in 2024, contributed five catches for 50 yards.

“It’s a bittersweet feeling. This league isn’t that big, so you know guys on every team,” said Jefferson.

“You want your team to execute and do the right things and win the game, but when you have friends and ex-teammates on other teams, you want to see them do good, but you also want to see them get stopped when you play them.”

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