Trevor Hagan/CFL.ca
WINNIPEG — It’s come right down to the wire for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Heading into Week 20 of the regular season, the Bombers have yet to punch their ticket to the playoffs and will be facing the West Division-leading Calgary Stampeders on Friday night at Investors Group Field.
Two weeks ago, IGF served as the setting to Winnipeg’s first shutout since 2006 when they put a beating on the Saskatchewan Roughriders, winning 31-0 after losing both games to the Riders earlier in the season. Winnipeg then spent the following week on their final bye of the season as the Roughriders managed to defeat the Stampeders for the second time this season.
“I don’t think it surprises anyone,” Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said on Monday. “That’s how this season has come down. It’s a tough division.”
O’Shea insisted, “on any day, any team can win. Either team can win.”
He’s not wrong as the West Division picture has had little to no consistency in who beats who the past few weeks. However, Winnipeg is riding a four-game winning streak that they hope can carry over to the flipside of their week off when it comes time to take on Calgary at home.
“If we remain focused and our preparation is good, we stick to the process that’s got us to where we’re at, then we’ve got opportunities in front of us,” O’Shea said. “If we don’t stay focused and don’t do the things that have allowed us to win some games then we know what the outcome is going to be.”
Passing for five touchdowns and just one interception in his last four games, Bombers quarterback Matt Nichols is aware of the situation that sits in front of the Bombers with two games remaining in their regular season schedule.
“We knew going into the bye we were playing some good football,” Nichols said on Monday. “And the last thing we said to each other was when we come back we’ve got to keep winning football games. That hasn’t changed at all.”
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Nichols, in his fourth season with Winnipeg, has had his share of seasons where these last few remaining games have served little to no purpose in the final playoff picture, so it’s a bit of a relief despite the pressure that comes with still needing to win a game in order to seal up the last remaining playoff spot.
“I’ve been in seasons where games this time of year didn’t matter as much,” Nichols said. “You want to play football when there’s a lot on the line.”
“A lot of the time over the course of the season there’s not a ton of extra pressure that comes with it aside from the fact that you want to win football games, but I feel like we’ve been feeling that pressure as a team for over a month now. In a game like this that does mean a lot, you don’t feel that in our locker room. You don’t feel like it’s any bigger than the last four weeks where we felt we were in must-win situations. For us, it’s another game that’s going to be a tough one that we plan on coming out and playing well in.”
All Winnipeg needs to do is win either of their final two games and they punch their way into the playoffs.
“You always want to solidify your position as early as possible,” Nichols says. “They’re playing for a lot also so it’s going to be a dogfight. That’s what you want this time of year.”
The West Division picture has been nothing short of insane since Labour Day Weekend. The Eskimos who once sat near the top of the division now hold a very narrow chance of making the playoffs. BC has turned their season around since the return of Travis Lulay and bringing in big weapons like Tyrell Sutton and DeVier Posey. The Stampeders have faced their struggles with injuries while remaining as the division’s front-runner, and the Riders have had a rollercoaster ride all season long.
“You can never count on anyone in this league to do you any favours,” Nichols says. “The last three or four weeks, there’s probably five or six games that if they had gone a little bit differently then we’re probably already in the playoffs.”
Two weeks remain, but the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have the potential of writing their own destiny with the final two game son their schedule. Just how soon do they start the next chapter will be determined by their performance this week against the Stampeders.
Football’s fun, no?
