Mission: Improbable

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This article was published 02/08/2017 (2968 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In a steady stream, thousands of people headed for the exit at Investors Group Field last Thursday night, eager to beat the post-game traffic.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers, with just minutes remaining in the fourth quarter of their Week 6 matchup against the Montreal Alouettes, had just surrendered their fourth touchdown. Running back Stefan Logan ran untouched for 31 yards to the end zone, capping off the six-play, 80-yard drive with a TD celebration that poked fun at a crowd now dotted with empty seats.

Not that you could blame Logan for his overconfidence. With his score, the Alouettes had a commanding lead, up 40-28, with 1:40 left on the clock. Just like you couldn’t (really) fault those who felt the possibility of shedding a few minutes off the commute home was what little consolation remained on an otherwise disappointing night.

Brad Fotty, the Bombers’ longtime equipment manager, had seen this movie before. It wasn’t the first time he’s watched fans leave early and he doesn’t believe it will be the last. But if he’s learned anything from his 28 years in the Canadian Football League, it’s that nothing should surprise him anymore.

If anything, he’s come to expect the unexpected.

“The CFL is the one game you can’t walk out on because you just never know what’s going to happen,” said Fotty. “That’s the best part about this league.”

But Fotty, despite all his years of experience, couldn’t have predicted what would eventually unfold; even if he wasn’t all that surprised that it happened. While Fotty was in the middle of his late-game routine — packing supplies into a truck parked near the sideline — the Bombers were scratching and crawling their way upfield, mounting an unforeseeable comeback.

Once the dust settled, the Bombers had successfully erased the 12-point deficit, scoring two touchdowns in a span of 95 seconds, separated by a perfectly executed — and rare — onside kick. To be sure, the Bombers would need every last moment on the clock, ending the game on the final play, a one-yard run from Andrew Harris.

Bombers 41, Alouettes 40.

“There was nothing but excitement,” was how Harris described those moments following his game-clinching touchdown. “Those kind of feelings you just can’t describe. You can’t replay that situation or put into words how it good it feels.”

The key thing to take away from the thrilling come-from-behind victory? Even when the task at hand seems impossible, it’s still worth trying. The Winnipeg Free Press conducted more than 20 interviews in an attempt to bring back to life what will surely go down as one of the Bombers’ most impressive rallies in its 87-year history.

SCORE, ONSIDE, SCORE

It wasn’t long before making the team out of training camp that John Rush started to feel he was part of something special in Winnipeg. Just weeks into his first year of professional football, the linebacker-turned-fullback had already started to feel like part of the Bombers family — a rare occurrence for someone new that early into a season, especially a rookie.

Having never played a snap on offence, Rush’s contribution is limited to mostly special teams. But with an upbeat personality, he often takes it upon himself to play the role of part-time cheerleader, keeping the guys upbeat on the sideline by spreading his positive energy.

When Logan marched into the end zone to put the Alouettes up 40-28, it seemed like the perfect time to act. But what he saw wasn’t a group in need of a pick-me-up, but a collective sense of determination that needed no further fuel to its fire.

“There wasn’t one guy moping, or one guy with his head down,” recalled Rush. “Sure, it was disappointing, but soon everyone just started saying “score, onside, score.”

The three words became a concentrated blueprint for success: score a touchdown, recover the onside kick and score another touchdown. But perhaps an even shorter version of the chant, using just the initials S.O.S, was more suitable for what the Bombers were hoping to achieve.

The consensus around the team is that it was Matt Nichols, the Bombers’ starting quarterback and undisputed leader, who was responsible for starting the chant. The offence had struggled for much of the game under Nichols — he had just 253 of his 358 of his passing yards by that point — and he wasn’t about to ruin his chance at redemption.

“When you listen to the crowd, it was a little deflating when they punched in that last touchdown but the offence just looked each other in the eye… and everyone believed,” said Nichols. “It would have been easy just to throw in the towel and move on to next week.”

CALM BEFORE THE STORM

Though everyone appeared calm and focused in the moments after the Logan touchdown, not everyone was happy.

The week before, T.J. Thorpe had returned from an injury-plagued start to his CFL career after a serious hamstring pull and partially torn MCL in the pre-season that kept him out of the first three games. When he made his debut in a Week 5 loss to the B.C. Lions, the 24-year-old receiver was targeted nine times, reeling in eight catches for 65 yards. He had become accustomed to his early success and was hungry for more.

But with Winnipeg in desperation-mode late in the fourth quarter, Thorpe had caught just two balls on three attempts, totalling eight yards.

“Personally, I was a little pissed off and I just figured let’s just go out there and do what we can,” he said.

It wasn’t long after those feelings started to seep in that backup quarterback Dan LeFevour, noticing Thorpe’s frustration, approached the young receiver with a few words of wisdom. If the Bombers were going to pull this off, LeFevour reasoned, they needed everyone on board.

“He told me you can look at it one of two ways,” Thorpe said. “One, you can either be a drain, or two, you can be a fountain.

“I’m no damn drain. So when I thought about what Dan said I just wanted to score as fast as we could.”

After an unusual kickoff return from defensive lineman Jake Thomas following a short kick by Montreal, the Bombers offence took over the ball on their own 41-yard line with 1:35 left on the clock. Thorpe strapped on his helmet and rushed into the huddle.

“It was weird because I’ve never seen a group of guys who were down by 12 points with a minute and some change left and everybody was just calm,” he said. “It was probably the most easy-going and calm huddle that I’ve been a part of and nobody had a doubt in their mind that we were going to go score.”

Two plays into the drive, Nichols connected with Thorpe for a pass up the middle for a 12-yard gain. After the Bombers moved the sticks with a run by Harris and short pass to Ryan Lankford, Nichols looked again to No. 14. Thorpe caught back-to-back passes, pushing the Bombers to within striking distance inside the Alouettes’ five-yard line. He’d make five catches in the final two scoring drives to finish with seven receptions for 64 yards.

“My biggest motivator was watching the fans leave,” said Thorpe. “I wanted to personally make sure that whoever left that when they got to their car they’d be thinking, ‘Damn, we missed a hell of a game.’

Even before Nichols first attempt at the touchdown failed — the ball sailing into unprotected territory on the right side of the end zone — defensive tackle Cory Johnson was having a hard time coming to grips with what he was watching. A 300-pound native of Columbia, S.C., Johnson is still getting used to the nuances of the CFL. After spending the last few years trying to pursue a career in the NFL, Johnson has made a positive impression on his new team, so much so he earned a starting role on a crowded Bombers defensive line.

But although he’s been able to adapt to being one yard off the ball and is now used to watching receivers motion to the line of scrimmage, he still didn’t understand how a comeback was possible. In the NFL, where the time clock is double that of the 20 seconds allotted in the CFL, the game would likely have already been over.

“I remember being on the sideline and looking at the game thinking to myself this is some bull****,” said Johnson. “Because if you aren’t a guy that’s been here for a bit, when the time is that low and you’re used to playing down south, it’s time to pack it up.”

That’s when Johnson saw veteran defensive end Jamaal Westerman sitting on a bench in total peace. Keen on changing his current mood, he wandered over to Westerman.

“As soon as I sat down beside him I felt his vibe,” said Johnson. “When he said it was going to be all right I just decided to rock with him the rest of the game.”

Looking through the wall of bodies that stood in front of them, Johnson and Westerman watched as Nichols stepped back into the pocket before delivering a pass to the same spot he had tried a play earlier. Only this time Lankford, who had replaced an injured Weston Dressler earlier in the game, was there to reel in the four-yard catch for the touchdown, cutting the Alouettes’ lead to 40-35.

“I believe so, but I don’t really remember,” recalled Lankford when asked if he was the primary target. “I just know that I had to take care of my job… the ball happened to be there and you’ve got to make the play.”

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Lankford’s diving touchdown grab sent a jolt of energy through the Bombers’ sidelines. While most of the team broke out in celebration over completing Phase 1 of Operation S.O.S., a small group was already huddled together to discuss what would be the most difficult task in the race to victory.

With 44 seconds left on the clock and down just five points, there was enough time to drive the field one more time. But if the offence was to get that chance, the special teams unit first had to execute an onside kick.

Onside kicks are among the lowest-percentage plays in football. A study by sports-reference.com that logged onside kicks in the NFL from 2002 to 2012 reported fewer than 20 per cent were recovered by the kicking team and are especially difficult to pull off without the element of surprise.

Even with the odds stacked against them, the Bombers felt comfortable with their chances. A sampling of several players that have played for other teams in the CFL before landing in Winnipeg agree the Bombers dedicate more time to situations like these than any other team in the league.

“Ever since training camp ended, there have been a couple of scenarios we go through every week,” special teams co-ordinator Paul Boudreau said. “We go through them at practice, we watch them on film and we discuss each one a final time during our walkthroughs.”

The Bombers also had Justin Medlock who, despite missing two field goals in the game, was still the league’s most accurate kicker.

Boudreau had already decided on how he planned to execute the kick. Instead of opting for the most common approach by kicking towards the sidelines, he felt the Bombers’ best chance was to aim the ball closer to the middle where there would be less protection.

“They probably have, like, six different onside kicks they can do, but I remember that one because they’ve been practising it every day and Medlock has been hitting it in that same spot all year,” said Westerman. “When you see something like that it sticks with you.”

Boudreau had discussed it with his players during the drive that led to the Lankford touchdown, with the hope it would give them enough time to envision how they planned to attack the play. When it was almost time to take the field, he got the group together with head coach Mike O’Shea to deliver one final message.

“We talked about finishing,” said Boudreau. “We had talked about it in our meeting that week, including a little video where the focal point was finishing. It was pretty fitting that we now had a chance to try to do just that.”

With the game on the line, Medlock snapped his chinstrap to his helmet and raised his right arm. Bob Irving, the radio play-by-play voice of the Bombers for the past 40 years, didn’t hesitate in his evaluation of the boot as it left the tee.

“As soon as he hit it I said on the air, ‘Boy, is that ever a good kick,’ because you could tell,” Irving said. “It was right in the middle of the field.”

The decision on where to aim the kick had worked out perfectly. While chaos ensued near the sidelines, Brandon Alexander was able to sneak in undetected, the lone player to leap for the ball as three Montreal defenders looked on in shock.

“It was crazy, because we were all decoys, all of us running to the outside to have them think the ball is going to the numbers,” said Darvin Adams. “But we got them on the inside.”

Adams was just feet away from the play. And though it lasted just a few seconds, a brief bobble by Alexander set off a roller-coaster of emotions for the veteran receiver.

“I saw the ball kind of slip out,” Adams said. “And finally I just saw him grab the ball, almost between his legs, and pull it up. I pointed my arm our way to say we had the ball and then my mind clicked towards playing offence. It was time to go win this one.”

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

Through all the beautiful chaos that surrounded him, Westerman remained seated on the bench beside Johnson. Part of the reason was because he had total confidence in his offence. But he also didn’t want to risk getting in the way.

“I just sat down, knowing we were going to score,” he said “I didn’t want to jinx it by standing up and saying ‘we got this,’ because you never know what could happen.”

If the onside kick involved an element of pre-planning, the final drive had next to none. But the Bombers practice their hurry-up offence nearly every day. Each player knows what his job is. Now it was time to follow through on it.

“It’s one of those things where the more you talk about it, the less it happens,” said Harris. “The more automatic and natural it feels, that’s when you’re successful.”

“There’s not really a lot of time… it sort of slows down a little bit, added O’Shea. “In terms of the marching down the field, it’s just a routine and checking as you go through like you would any time. I don’t think the urgency of it changes.”

One of the lasting images of the final drives wasn’t on the field. Defensive lineman Padric Scott, a healthy scratch for all but one game last season and every week so far this year, was dressed in a Bombers T-shirt and sweat pants on the sideline. Desperately wanting to be out on the field, he needed to find a way to release some of his pent-up emotion.

Feeding off the energy in the stands, he turned towards the fans who were still in their seats and, as though standing in front of an orchestra, began to conduct. At one point, he was up on the Bombers’ bench with both arms raised in the air.

“At the end of the day, when the crowd is loud it allows the defence to play well, gives them the energy they need to play,” said Scott, giggling at what was coming next. “Or when the offence was out there and they want to scream, I was screaming at them to shut up and be quiet because Matt Nichols was out there trying to make calls, trying to win us the game.”

Nichols, starting from his own 52-yard line, connected with Thorpe for a 13-yard pass to get into Alouettes’ territory. On the next play, Montreal D-lineman Chris Ackie would break through the Bombers wall and get to Nichols for a loss of six yards.

But a flag for roughing the passer was thrown after the referee determined Ackie had contacted Nichols’ head on the tackle. The sack was nullified and the Bombers got a fresh set of downs on the Alouettes’ 30.

“People outside of this profession don’t really understand the mindset you have to have in those kinds of games,” said Buck Pierce, former CFL quarterback and current Bombers QB coach. “It’s a switch that you have to flip, and whatever the situation is, you have to think you’re going to get the job done.”

Pierce added: “Winning can look a lot of different ways.”

It wasn’t the first time in the game that Nichols had taken a hard hit. But as was the case with the others, he’d shake this one off, too, completing his next two passes — one to Thorpe, the other to Adams — to get within 16 yards of the end zone.

From there, the next two plays would describe perfectly the 2017 Winnipeg Blue Bombers: scrappy, gritty, gloriously imperfect.

With 16 seconds left on the clock and Nichols running the play out of the shotgun, the ball was snapped. As Nichols dropped back five steps, he quickly noticed Montreal had rushed five players, the other seven dropping deep into coverage. With the pocket at risk of collapsing, Nichols, who had rushed for just 38 yards through the first four games, stepped up and took off.

“I wasn’t going to be denied in that last drive and I was clawing and scratching to try and get us to the goal line on that run,” Nichols would say after the game.

With open space in front of him, Nichols had a five-yard head start. He’d eventually be greeted by Alouettes linebacker Dominique Tovell just yards short of the end zone, and then by Kyries Herbert shortly after. But it was one final attempt by defensive back Brandon Dozier that brought Nichols down, stopping his falling body just short of the end zone.

The run was as impressive as it was spontaneous. And it wasn’t only the fans and players on the sidelines that watched in awe as the run developed.

Jermarcus Hardrick has made a name for himself from his unorthodox antics during games. When Nichols scored a rushing touchdown against B.C., Hardrick locked his quarterback in a hug so tight you wondered if he ever planned to let go. In the first quarter against Montreal, when Harris ran for a touchdown, he pulled the running back aside for a dance-off. Hardrick’s antics aren’t limited to scoring plays; on almost every play he can been seen running as far as the player holding the ball, including long gains by a receiver.

This time, however, he could just watch.

“I couldn’t even block. It was like when just everything slows down when you see something special happen but you know you’re supposed to be doing something,” Hardrick said. “I saw Matt get hit, then I saw him break a tackle, then I saw him break another and then I saw him get hit again. I was like, ‘Oh, man, it’s about to happen.’

“When you see your quarterback do something like that… I don’t care, I’ll close my eyes and go head up, taking on three or four of them. If my quarterback is willing to give up his body like that then I’ll do whatever he asks.”

Nichols needed help for one final play. It was first down on the goal-line with four seconds left on the clock. Four seconds. Though the decision seemed obvious, Harris was perhaps the only person to think he wasn’t about to get the ball.

“Sometimes we like to throw in those situations on the goal-line and I wasn’t expecting to get the call,” he said. “When you hear your number called you’re automatically thinking of the outcomes. You’re thinking of what the defence might do — if they’re going to pressure, if they’re going to run two off the edge, if they’re going to be tight in the A-gaps.”

With the different options running through his head, Harris took the ball from Nichols and cut left.

“If I stayed inside I would have walked right in instead of making it so hard on myself,” he said.

The quick move dodged one oncoming defender, but two more were waiting for him. Harris dipped low, getting his body as close to the ground as he could before administering one last push.

“There’s a lot going through your mind, but the biggest objective is no matter what happens — whether you get hit in the backfield, or if you’ve got to break an arm tackle, or if you’ve got to break two or three tackles — you just basically do whatever it takes to make that play and get into that end zone.”

Harris willed his way through the two defenders to score. But all scoring plays in the CFL are reviewed at the control centre in Toronto. Unlike most, the Alouettes had a case for an appeal.

It looked as though Harris’s knee had touched the ground before the ball broke the plane of the goal-line; the Alouettes certainly thought that was the case.

No one had a better view of the play than Thorpe, who was the main block for Harris, and he was sitting a mere foot away from where Harris got in. Notwithstanding his obvious lack of objectivity, Thorpe was adamant the refs made the right call

“As I’m watching, I see Andrew push forward,” he said. “I’m like, ‘There’s no way in hell they’re going to stop him.’ “From where I was sitting, his knee was maybe two inches off the ground. Maybe. It was to the point where if the ref didn’t call it a touchdown I was going to lose my mind.”

The control centre confirmed the call.

The Bombers kneeled in victory formation, bringing an end to another routine day at the office.

“We talked about before the game (that) we wanted to be an exhausted bunch celebrating a win and that’s exactly what we are,” Nichols said afterward. “Everyone left everything out there on the field and everyone is going to have a few bumps and bruises but obviously those feel a lot better on a long week after a win.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton