As the free fall continues, firing, demotion hint no job is safe for the Bombers

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This article was published 09/09/2015 (3912 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mike O’Shea insists he’s not worried about his own job security.

If that’s true, O’Shea is quite possibly the only person at Investors Group Field this week who isn’t worried about losing his job.

With the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in free fall, the axe began to swing in earnest at IGF Tuesday morning with the announcement special-teams co-ordinator Pat Tracey had been fired. And it continued swinging in the afternoon with the announcement Brian Brohm has been replaced by Matt Nichols as the Bombers’ starting quarterback this week.

Add to those changes a new starting strong-side linebacker this week in Maurice Leggett; a new starting safety in Lin-J Shell; and what might be a new starting left guard in Sam Longo and it’s clear the team that faces the Saskatchewan Roughriders at home Saturday in the Banjo Bowl will be markedly different than the one that lost to those same Riders 37-19 in Regina Sunday.

With change in the air, the larger question now is how far this franchise is prepared to go to salvage a season that was supposed to end with playing in a Grey Cup game at home but is increasingly looking, at 3-7, as though it’s going to end the way Bombers’ seasons always seem to end lately: in disappointment.

With Tracey now gone — victim of a special-teams unit that continues to give up big plays while making precious few of their own — and fans continuing to clamour for the head of offensive co-ordinator Marcel Bellefeuille, O’Shea was asked Tuesday a question that would have been unthinkable even a month ago:

Are you worried about losing your job?

O’Shea gave the only answer he could under the circumstances. “I don’t think about losing my job, no,” O’Shea replied. “I think about getting up every morning and coming to work and seeing the guys and making sure I’m doing everything I can do to make them successful.”

Now, that might sound like lip service from an eternally upbeat man in O’Shea, who is the kind of guy who also would have pointed out all the free snorkelling opportunities as the Titanic sunk to the ocean floor.

But it is also a fact that while a good portion of Bomber Nation has now given up on this team for yet another year, the team itself remains convinced they can quickly claw their way back into contention.

Sound preposterous? Consider this: For all this team’s problems — they’ve lost four in a row, five of their last six and 17 of their last 22 games — the Bombers are also just one win out of a playoff spot.

But nothing’s changing if nothing’s changing. And so O’Shea will add special-teams duties to his list of responsibilities this week and hand the ball to Nichols, who will be Winnipeg’s fourth starting quarterback in five games when he lines up against the Riders. (Ponder that stat the next time you hear someone blame Bellefeuille for all that ails the Bombers offence).

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And the changes aren’t likely to end there. O’Shea confirmed Tuesday the team is aggressively pursuing former all-star non-import middle linebacker Henoc Muamba, who was cut over the weekend by the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts.

Muamba is keen to land another NFL job — he had a workout with the New York Giants this week. But if the NFL door closes for Muamba, the Bombers believe they have the inside track on landing a player who has said repeatedly how grateful he is for his time in Winnipeg and the opportunities the Bombers gave him.

And the Bombers also announced via their Twitter account Tuesday a series of new free-agent camps in the U.S. this month. While it’s hard to imagine a saviour for this season emerging from a cold tryout in the coming weeks, the timing of the announcement will not have been lost on a Bombers dressing room where no one’s job is safe right now.

The axe is out and the message at Investors Group Field was unmistakable Tuesday: the bleeding off the field is going to continue for as long as the bleeding on the field.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @PaulWiecek