Winnipeg Blue Bombers suffer humiliating loss to B.C. Lions (& eight other thoughts)

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers lost to the B.C. Lions on Thursday night by a score of 35-19 in front of 31,509 fans at Princess Auto Stadium. Below are my thoughts on the game.

An empire crumbles

This was one of the most winnable games the Blue Bombers have had in years.

The Lions travelled to Winnipeg with a 1-5 record and a mere four days of rest. With reigning CFL Most Outstanding Player Nathan Rourke on the injured list, B.C.’s starting quarterback was Kaidon Salter. Prior to this game, the 23-year-old’s resumé included exactly one CFL accolade: the fact that he’s randomly related to Casey Printers.

Heck, the Lions started Lorenzo Mauldin IV on Thursday night, a player who was literally retired as recently as four days ago. When the opposition is starting retirees, you should win.

And yet, the Blue Bombers got beaten. Badly.

We’ll get into the details below, but this was a truly awful loss. Winnipeg is now 1-4 at home and they fully deserved the boos that repeatedly rained down from the near-capacity crowd.

At this rate, it’s impossible to imagine this team meaningfully competing for a home playoff game. They’ll be lucky to make the postseason at all.

Show us your I.D.

It appears offensive coordinator Tommy Condell heard Brady Oliveira’s comments from last week when he questioned the unit’s identity.

Over the first third of the season, Winnipeg’s offence made most of its hay in the intermediate passing game. However, on Thursday, the unit became ultra-conservative, relying almost exclusively on the run game and quick-hitting passes.

Dru Brown completed 18-of-21 pass attempts for 180 yards and a touchdown on the night, though a relatively high percentage of his passing yardage came after the catch.

The veteran quarterback threw four interceptions last week, and it didn’t look like his team trusted him to push the ball downfield. He didn’t attempt a pass that travelled 20 yards through the air until the end of the third quarter, when he hit Ontaria Wilson for a 37-yard catch-and-run.

Even without any deep shots, the results weren’t always good. The 29-year-old missed badly on a throw to Nic Demski shortly before halftime. The Lions blitzed and Brown made a good read on second-and-five, but couldn’t place the ball well enough to give Demski any chance of catching it. If a quarterback can’t throw a five-yard slant, that’s a big problem.

Brown left Thursday’s game midway through the fourth quarter due to an apparent back injury, which occurred after he was tackled on a scramble. He was replaced by Taylor Elgersma, who played poorly.

The CFL rookie out of Wilfrid Laurier University went one-for-four on his pass attempts for 10 yards. He took two sacks, lost an unforced fumble, and was stopped short on a second-down scramble. His receivers weren’t much help, as Ontaria Wilson and Brady Oliveira dropped catchable passes.

Oliveira was productive, rushing 19 times for 107 yards. Even so, this didn’t look like a team with an offensive identity.

It looked like a team with offensive problems.

Defence breaks down

The Blue Bombers played well defensively for almost the entire first half, holding the Lions scoreless until moments before halftime.

Midway through the third quarter, the unit started to crack. Kaidon Salter pulled the ball on a simple read-option and ran 40 yards up the sideline. This was a sign of things to come for a Winnipeg defence that was abysmal against the run for the rest of the game.

Zander Horvath got loose for runs of 35, 58, and 35 yards in the fourth quarter, two of which went for touchdowns. He finished the game with 17 carries for 191 yards and three touchdowns, while Salter ran 10 times for 160 yards. As a team, the Lions recorded an incredible 377 rushing yards.

Wow.

With an athletic rookie quarterback under centre, it was abundantly obvious the Lions were going to have a run-centred attack. How the Blue Bombers failed so badly in stopping it was bewildering.

Winnipeg’s defence recorded only one takeaway and it was completely unforced, as a B.C. snap deflected off a receiver and bounced onto the open turf. Jaylen Smith jumped on the ball to give the Blue Bombers possession in Lions territory, which led to a short field goal from Sergio Castillo.

Smith came close to recording another takeaway before halftime when he dove under a pass that had been batted at the line of scrimmage by Willie Jefferson. Though it was initially ruled an interception, the replay centre overturned the call to rule it an incompletion. Based on the replay, which showed the ball hit the turf, this appeared to be the correct decision.

On the plus side, Willie Jefferson and Jake Ceresna both got home for sacks, the second of which was particularly key as it snuffed out a promising drive for the Lions.

Feeling passive

When it came to third down on Thursday night, Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea was about as conservative as a baptist preacher.

Winnipeg’s opening drive stalled at B.C.’s eight-yard line. Instead of gambling on third-and-two, O’Shea opted for a 16-yard field goal from Sergio Castillo.

The team retook possession almost immediately after an errant Lions snap, which was recovered by Jaylen Smith. This time, Winnipeg reached B.C.’s four-yard line on third-and-goal. O’Shea was risk-averse again, as he took the offence off the field so Castillo could kick a 12-yard field goal.

These decisions seemed questionable at best.

If you score touchdowns, you’ve buried your opponent on the scoreboard. If you turn the ball over on downs, you’ve buried your opponent with field position.

Taking short field goals is kind of the worst of both worlds. You’re not building a big lead, but you’re also not forcing your opponent to scrimmage in the shadow of their own uprights.

O’Shea elected not to gamble on third-and-two again in the fourth quarter, instead opting for a 49-yard field goal from Castillo.

In fairness to the veteran bench boss, if there was ever a time to be conservative, it was this particular game. When your opponent is coming off a short week and starting a raw rookie at quarterback, they’re bound to make a bunch of mistakes. It stands to reason that if you minimize risk, you’ll likely win.

Obviously, this isn’t how things played out. Winnipeg was passive early-on, then came to rue the slow start when the B.C.’s run game exploded late.

When a team limps into your building, you may as well attack immediately. Otherwise, you’re just giving them time to find their footing.

Failing protection

The Blue Bombers made a change at right tackle this week as Micah Vanterpool stepped in for the injured Jarell Broxton. However, that wasn’t the tackle spot at which the team had problems.

Winnipeg gave up a sack late in the third quarter when B.C. sent only three rushers. Mathieu Betts ran by Stanley Bryant virtually untouched around the edge, which was inexcusable. Bryant had inside help from left guard Gabe Wallace. All he had to do was ensure Betts didn’t go around the horn.

The 40-year-old also took an illegal procedure penalty in the second quarter, which turned second-and-seven into second-and-twelve. After an eight-yard carry from Brady Oliveira, Winnipeg was forced to punt.

Let’s make this abundantly clear: Bryant is going to be a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee. He’s arguably the best offensive lineman in CFL history.

With that said, for the first time in a decade, Winnipeg needs better pass protection from the left tackle position. Right now, it’s just not good enough.

The streak

Winnipeg saw its 16-game sell-out streak come to an end against the Argonauts three weeks ago when the club drew a crowd of 32,134, which is 209 shy of capacity. However, there was sort of a caveat, as Toronto was technically the “home team” for the game in question.

When the Blue Bombers hosted a sold-out crowd for last week’s loss to the Calgary Stampeders, the team took to social media to trumpet a 17-game sell-out streak. Clearly, they were trying to rely on a technicality to argue the streak was still alive.

After drawing 31,509 fans to Princess Auto Stadium on Thursday, the streak is now officially and inarguably dead.

To be clear, Winnipeg’s crowds and game-day atmosphere are still the envy of the CFL. The team’s fan support is excellent, which is why there’s no reason to exaggerate or mislead anyone about the state of attendance. The streak is over, and that’s OK.

Honouring legends

Winnipeg honoured Adam Bighill on Thursday night, as the longtime linebacker retired this spring at the age of 37.

The five-foot-nine, 232-pound defender played six seasons with the Blue Bombers and will forever be one of the best defensive players in team and league history. The native of Montesano, Wash. is one of two members of the team ever to win two Most Outstanding Defensive Player awards, alongside Greg Battle. He also won one with the B.C. Lions.

Bighill will be eligible for the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2029, and nobody should be surprised if he gets the call that same year.

The Blue Bombers also inducted Cal Murphy into the Ring of Honour, an announcement that was made last month. The two-time Coach of the Year and nine-time Grey Cup champion died in 2012 at the age of 79. It’s pretty awesome that he and his family are still being recognized all these years later.

Next up

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers (4-4) are heading into their second of three bye weeks.

This team is in trouble. Six of their ten remaining regular-season games are against the Edmonton Elks, Saskatchewan Roughriders, and Montreal Alouettes. Beating those teams will be a lot tougher than knocking off B.C.’s third-string rookie quarterback, which Winnipeg wasn’t able to do.

The biggest question coming out of the bye week will be the status of franchise quarterback Zach Collaros. Though nothing has been confirmed by the team, it seems likely that the soon-to-be 38-year-old will be ready to return to the field when the club hosts the Ottawa Redblacks on Friday, August 14.

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