Had the Winnipeg Blue Bombers beat Edmonton on Friday night (and with Calgary losing on Saturday) the Bombers would be in the 2026 CFL playoffs.
However, now the Bombers find themselves in a must-win situation on Friday night in BC to get into the playoffs.
However, it was not as if the Bombers played poorly...or at least not in the first half of the game.
But when it came down to it, the Bombers showed the same issues that they have shown all year long!
Inconsistency
If you want to know the definition of 'inconsistency' open the dictionary (does anyone still have a dictionary?) or Google it, and you will see a picture of the 2026 Bombers.
They look so good at one moment, and then so terrible and out of sorts the next moment. It is confounding, and perplexing. If a team was just bad, like Ottawa, that is one thing. But they are just consistently inconsistent.
Winnipeg could still clinch 3rd place, but before anyone else was saying it, I was saying that Winnipeg will be entertaining for the rest of the 2026 season but the Bombers will not make any noise in the playoffs.
Collaros is not the answer
This is something else that I was saying before anyone else. While most other CFL writers, posters, etc, were saying that the Bombers need Collaros to win, I was saying that it does not matter. Before last game Collaros was ranked the 8th best quarterback in the CFL.
Sure that was better than Brown who was ranked 11th but neither is nearly good enough.
In a game the Bombers needed to win to make sure they got a playoff spot, Collaros threw 2 interceptions and one of them was brutal - also a common theme this year.
Without the 2 interceptions the stat line looks really good. But that is not how it works. I cannot simply whiteout one part of the stat line (interceptions) to say it is a good line. At least one of those interceptions directly led to Edmonton points.
And it is not as if 2026 is the first year this has been an issue for Zach.
You have to go back three seasons to 2023 to find a year where the touchdown to interception ratio is acceptable.
Get a New Offensive Coordinator
The fact that Brady Oliveira has so many rushing yards can burry the fact that the offensive line is not nearly good enough and that the Bombers' offensive coordinator does not play to the team's strengths.
Before the season started I questioned whether Oliveira would be a Bomber. They did not use him properly in 2025 and for the 2026 season they hired an offensive coordinator that does not like to run the ball.
After the 2025 Banjo Bowl, I reported that Brady's fiancé or girlfriend said that Brady was not happy with how he was utilized. Well, the Bomber shipped Buck Pierce to BC and brought in Tommy Condell.
That experiment did not work and I like I said after the 2025 season I cannot see both the offensive coordinator and Brady Oliveira returning for 2027.
So who do the Bombers ship off? That is not even a question. Brady stays.
Fix The O-Line
For as good as this offensive line can run block, they cannot pass block to save their lives. The Bombers better go out and get some offensive linemen if they hope to be competitive in 2027. If that means that they have to spend more money...then do it. If that means that they have to say good-bye to some guys, so be it. This is not working.
If Elgersma is the future plan, and if the Bombers do not fix the offensive line then Elgersma will be burnt and out of the CFL before we can really see what he can do.
Talk is cheap, do something
A few weeks ago I said that the Bombers better be saying something else behind closed doors than they are to the public.
After the game the Bomber's head coach said this, "Not good enough."
No kidding. But saying "Not good enough," is simply not good enough. It is time to see some action. Make some moves for 2027 after this season. You literally have nothing to lose. This will be the first time in 10 years that the Bombers did not hit double digit wins, and could be the first time in a while they miss the playoffs altogether.
This week the Mike O'Shea said, "You believe in the amount of work these guys do that this is going to happen." But working harder is not always the answer if the skill level and the coaching is not there.
Final Thoughts
If Winnipeg would have won their last game, they would be in the playoffs and Calgary would have been out as Winnipeg has the season series against Calgary.
In that case, theoretically, Winnipeg could have still been playing for 2nd place as BC and Winnipeg split their two games this season. However, Winnipeg would have needed to beat BC by more than 16 points to win that tie-breaker.
Yet none of that matters in this final week.
The Bombers are not out of it yet. On Friday night the Bombers play the BC Lions. And BC can do no better and no worse than second place. BC cannot catch Edmonton, and Saskatchewan cannot pass BC (BC beat Saskatchewan all 3 times this year).
So the question remains, will BC rest some of their starters, and can Winnipeg beat BC if BC plays their starters?
If Winnipeg loses this game with the importance this game has, then forget about it. Forget about the 2026 season it was a giant waste. Unless you are the coaching staff, the GM, or the President of the Bombers. Then please do not forget about it! Do something about it!