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Irving: Bombers getting 'brutal honesty' from Tim Burke
Posted: September 18, 2012 03:00 PM
Bob Irving
Bob Irving
CFL.ca

If nothing else, Tim Burke has scored straight A's for brutal honesty in his short tenure as interim head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.  

Burke was at the head of the class again this week in discussing Friday's 44-3 shellacking in Calgary.

Bomber fans were outraged to see players laughing on the sideline in the late stages of Friday's blowout, and Burke accused his players of lacking maturity, and not putting enough effort into their second blowout loss in three weeks.

At the first team meeting following the Calgary collapse, Burke showed the players excerpts from the telecast, which featured Brandon Collier and quarterback Alex Brink chuckling on the sidelines, along with biting commentary from the TSN panel. 

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"I showed them the video and said 'this is your resume, this is what people in the outside world are thinking about you. You've got to figure out how you're going to respond. Are you going to respond with pride or are you going to tuck your tail and run'," said the rookie head coach.

"So, we'll see how they respond."  

And Burke wasn't finished.

"It's embarassing," he continued. "These are professional athletes and we should act in a professional manner. You're getting paid to play as hard as you can play. We did not play as hard as we could play in Calgary and it's inexcusable."

Tough love for Bombers

Tim Burke

"It's embarassing. These are professional athletes and we should act in a professional manner. You're getting paid to play as hard as you can play. We did not play as hard as we could play in Calgary and it's inexcusable."

- Tim Burke

» READ: Bombers fall 44-3 in Calgary

"The good people of Winnipeg pay good money to come watch them play. Their salaries are being paid by the fans of Winnipeg. So they deserve more than they're getting."
 
How the players will respond to this type of dressing down is anyone's guess. But at 2-9, things can't get much worse in Bomberland, and Burke, 0-3 as interim head coach, obviously decided that if he's going to go down, he'll go down swinging.
 
Burke gets a standing ovation from this corner.

There is plenty of blame to go around for this Bomber season gone awry, and it needs to be shared by everyone involved in the football side of the organization.  

Questionable personnel decisions, coaching errors and an early season epidemic of injuries have all contributed to the current malaise.

But the players have had it too easy. From game one of the season, there have been mental lapses and assignment foul-ups that speak directly to a lack of focus and attention to detail.

Good on Tim Burke for calling out his troops. If honesty is Tim Burke's downfall, I can't think of a more honourable way to go.

About Bob

Bob Irving has covered the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for CJOB Radio in Winnipeg since 1973. Bob is the Sports Director at CJOB and is in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, reporters division. Follow Bob on Twitter @BobIrvingCJOB

Fan Comments
Most Commented >
bowlerdude
I like that he's being honest, too, but regarding "If honesty is Tim Burke's downfall..." - Tim Burke has already made a far worse mistake than that. The Bombers need a coach that will play to win. Maybe comes from being a DC and having faith in his defense, but ... play to win, not to avoid losing. It wouldn't surprise me if he's already lost the room because quite frankly that was one of the worst coaching decisions of all time. It's not that there was no possible way for the decision to pan out. Renaud could've made the punt better. The defense could've actually stopped them. But the decision Burke made was the one that gave Saskatchewan the best chance at winning the game, and it was a classic example of playing to avoid losing.
September 19, 2012 - 4:42pm
 
als rule
a sad sack and that's just the HC!!
September 19, 2012 - 11:44am
 
tabbiefanmcb
Inexcusable behaviour from players who are supposed to be professionals and should care about what is going on in the game when they are being blown out of the water instead of appearing like they think it is all a joke! Young team or not, they should know better!
September 18, 2012 - 9:44pm
 
nicolas7
And what did Joe Mack have to say when you interviewed him about this inappropriate and irresponsible behaviour, Bob?
This was his opportunity to support the discipline that he apparently thought was previously lacking with some concrete and meaningful action!
September 18, 2012 - 4:34pm
 
*C*F*L*
Quote fron HC Tim Burke > "So, we'll see how they respond."

Could go one of two ways.

(1) The football club respond and move mountains.
(2) Burke will totally lose the players / dressing room.
September 18, 2012 - 3:33pm
GoTi-Cats
What other team would WANT players who think being blown out of games twice in a row is a laughing matter??? If they don't respond in (1) fashion, maybe they are in the wrong line of work.
September 18, 2012 - 9:33pm
 

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