It’s been just over a month now – 38 days, to be exact – and those who lived it and shed tears over it are certainly still spitting out curses about the ending.
And to truly bring that frustration home, we give you Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea when asked earlier this month how long the sting will last from the 24-23 loss to the Toronto Argonauts in the 109th Grey Cup back on November 20th in Regina:
“The truth of that, the answer to that, is forever,” he said. “The group that has been fortunate enough or been a big part of winning 2019 and 2021, they will remember 2022 probably more vividly than ’19 and ’21. That is the unfortunate part of sport – we are stuck with this forever and that’s what drives guys nuts. So, yeah, it’s hard to shake that. It will be hard to shake that. But we all know that.”
The Blue Bombers playoff run – the win over the B.C. Lions in the Western Final followed by the loss to the Argos in the championship – comes in at #2 in our Blue Bombers ‘22 In Review series.
Winnipeg’s dominant 15-3 regular season was rewarded with a first-round playoff bye and then a visit from the Lions and Canadian phenom quarterback Nathan Rourke in the second straight Western Final at IG Field.
The Blue Bombers followed a familiar script in knocking off the Lions 28-20 before 30,319 by dominating the line of scrimmage. Pressure on Rourke up front forced him into two interceptions while the Blue Bombers rumbled for 173 yards along the ground, including 130 by hometown back Brady Oliveira. Winnipeg got an aerial strike from Zach Collaros to Dalton Schoen – giving him 17 touchdowns on the season – a one-yard QB sneak TD from Dakota Prukop and a 92-yard punt-return score from Janarion Grant, who would be front and centre a week later in Regina.
The victory, Winnipeg’s 27th division title, launched the Blue Bombers into a third straight Grey Cup for the first time since 1957-59. No Winnipeg team had won three straight, a feat that also hadn’t been accomplished in the CFL since the Edmonton dynasty of 1978-82.
Chasing that history – along with questions about an ankle injury Collaros had suffered against the Lions and the club facing old friend Andrew Harris who signed with the Argonauts in the offseason – provided plenty of juicy storylines during Grey Cup week.
On championship Sunday, the Blue Bombers and Argos traded blows through the first three quarters in what had been a hard-hitting but sloppy first 45 minutes. And that’s when Grant did his thing … again.
Winnipeg’s dynamic returner raced for a Grey Cup record 102-yard punt return on the first play of the fourth quarter, a touchdown that put his club up 23-14 with just over 14 minutes remaining. The Blue Bombers had been here before so many times over 2019-22 and seemed poised to lock down another title.
But Marc Liegghio missed the convert attempt on Grant’s score and Winnipeg’s four fourth quarter offensive possessions featured two interceptions – one by Prukop, the other by Collaros – along with one punt and then the dramatic conclusion that saw a 47-yard Liegghio field goal attempt blocked inside the final minute.
At the same time, the Argos had rallied behind back-up quarterback Chad Kelly – who was in the game after starter McLeod Bethel-Thompson had injured the thumb on his throwing hand – and he used his legs to convert a second and 20 which led to an A.J. Ouellette TD with 3:40 remaining.
Factor in a handful of other mistakes in the final quarter and the Blue Bombers’ glorious run as CFL champs had come crashing down after 1,092 days.
“We put ourselves in position to win at the end and they made a play,” said O’Shea after the game. “I’ve said this numerous times: the winning team is going to have a net difference of positive plays and they made a big play at the end. They made some other plays, obviously. We had our chances, and they made a big one at the end of the game. When they needed that one at the end, they got it. I would imagine pretty well everybody on the team would like to have one play back.”
The Grey Cup loss was the franchise’s first post-season setback since falling to the Calgary Stampeders in the 2018 Western Final. That was the harsh reality in the moment and will remain so in the days, weeks, months and years ahead.
“You feel it. You definitely feel it, and it’s been a while since we had this feeling,” said receiver Rasheed Bailey in a morose Blue Bombers locker room on Grey Cup Sunday.
“When we don’t play to our standard, we lose games and today wasn’t our best. There’s nobody to point your finger at. When you lose, all you can do is self-reflect and look at what you didn’t do, what you could have done better.
“I sat out there afterward and watched and felt it and I’ll be better for it. This whole locker room, this organization, will find a way to get back to being on top again.”
