The Lede: “I’ve always had a disposition, especially at work, of  ‘Let’s go. Let’s get this thing going.’

We live in a world of ‘hot takes’ where the more provocative and sensational the opinion, the better to move the proverbial needle and incite the masses to either holler in agreement or froth at the mouth in anger.

Now, to that end what follows isn’t exactly a hot take per se, but more of a lukewarm, Captain Obvious, no s–t Sherlock observation.

So, grab something solid and brace yourself Bomber Nation because here goes…

If the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 2024 edition, are going to make any sort of push this season and re-establish themselves as legit Grey Cup contenders the resurgence will need to be led by quarterback Zach Collaros.

Period. End of take.

We know… that’s some insightful head spinning stuff, right?

Still, Collaros’ return to the Blue Bombers starting lineup against the Calgary Stampeders after missing last week’s gritty win over the Ottawa RedBlacks serves a sexy subplot to tonight’s game. And the consensus from those in the know tells us that the veteran pivot is coming off a razor-sharp practice week.

How that translates into game action next will be critical for a club that has one passing touchdown through five games this season — a Chris-Streveler-to-Drew-Wolitarsky connection in Calgary a couple of weeks ago — and sports a passing attack that has essentially been grounded.

Some of those numbers were outlined in our Game Preview and a quick perusal of the CFL stats package has Collaros with a 69.5 quarterback efficiency rating — last amongst starters and lower than a couple of No. 2 pivots in Streveler and Saskatchewan’s Shea Patterson. Those are jaw-dropping numbers for all the wrong reasons, clearly. And they’re surprising given Collaros owns a 39-12 regular-season record in starts since 2019, which translates into the highest winning percentage in Blue Bombers franchise history at 76.5.

Collaros at practice this week

There are some mitigating circumstances, of course, from Dalton Schoen and Kenny Lawler missing from the receiving corps due to injury, to the offseason exoduses of Jermarcus Hardrick, Rasheed Bailey and Geoff Gray.

Still, absolutely no one had Collaros having yet to throw a TD pass five games into the season.

“When the numbers don’t go the way you want them to total-points wise you can look back and find a lot of things — even in wins,” Collaros said Thursday in his pre-game media conference. “It always comes down to execution, one play after another and stacking those up and finishing drives.

“Obviously the scores haven’t gone the way we wanted them to all season long and you think back and have a self-scout — which you’re able to do a little bit when you’re sitting out — and it’s a handful of plays here and there inside the red zone, scoring touchdowns instead of kicking a field goal or a turnover that leads to points going the other way. It’s always a handful of things.

“We need to do a better job of stringing plays together, executing plays. I thought we took a good step forward last week. I thought we played extremely physical up front, Brady (Oliveira) as well, Chris doing a great job of that and the receivers, too. As I said earlier in the week, we have to try to carry that momentum into practice.

“We had a good week of practice and now we’ve got to take it to the game.”

That would be massive now with the Blue Bombers trying to work out of their 1-4 hole and winless against the West Division. It’s not all on Collaros, of course, but as head coach Mike O’Shea likes to state, the quarterback is ‘in charge of winning.’

What Collaros serves up tonight will be telling. Prior to the last game — after the decision had been made to sit him out for precautionary reasons — O’Shea described his QB1 as being ‘angry.’

Asked to elaborate further on that on Thursday, Collaros offered a peek at a competitive drive that isn’t always visible to outsiders, but on display around the clock to those who work with him every day.

“You’re always on edge during game week,” he said. “We had a conversation and when you don’t feel like you can go and you have conversations where you shouldn’t go, that weighs on you a little bit.

“‘Anger’ might not be the right word… I used it with Osh and he relayed that, I guess. Again, records don’t mean much right now, but there has to be a sense of urgency. The fact that I wasn’t able to play last week coupled with the way the season’s started… ‘anger’ is probably a little too much.

“You want to be better every day and I’ve always had a disposition, especially at work, of  ‘Let’s go. Let’s get this thing going.’ It comes that across that way.”

Anger can be good, even healthy, when channelled properly. And, yes, it’s time to get this thing going.

FAST CLIMBER: The Blue Bombers depth chart features another change for tonight with Canadian Owen Hubert making his first career start at defensive end.

What makes Hubert’s story so compelling is this: he was the Blue Bombers eighth round pick, 73rd overall, in this year’s CFL Draft. That means only one player was selected after him.

Injuries along the D-line have been a factor in his rapid ascension but that also minimizes the credit Hubert is due here. Born in Champaign, Illinois, the Huberts moved to Canada when he was young as has father took a job with the Canadian government. He played six-man football in Norwood, Ontario, and then became a starter with the McMaster Marauders.

The Blue Bombers like his size at 6-4, 263 and his family’s athletic pedigree — his mother played for the University of Illinois basketball team, his father played semi-pro football and his brother Silas is a star defensive end at Queen’s who is already a top prospect for next year’s CFL Draft.

Owen Hubert

Still, from the second last pick in the draft to a starter on the Blue Bombers defensive line?

“That night, I was sitting there with my best friend, girlfriend, and the rest of my family and you see names start to go off the board,” Hubert said of draft night back in May. “And you’re thinking ‘OK, I’m probably coming up here soon.’ We got to almost midnight there and my name hadn’t come up. And we got to the eighth round and I think it was the third last pick and I’m like ‘Wow.’ We’re kind of getting ready to go to bed, mom and dad are turning off the lights in the house and stuff.

“Quite frankly, it was disappointing. I thought ‘OK, so be it, I’m going be an undrafted guy and I’m going go earn a spot.’ Well, sure enough, Winnipeg comes up and my names pops up – we had it on the TV – and everyone was ecstatic and we were jumping up and down. My brother made a comment ‘You know what, if you’re gonna go second last, you could’ve gone last and made it that much more cool.’ And I was like ‘All right, appreciate it, Silas.’

“But you know what, it’s a nice story, but wherever I went in the draft process, it was gonna be the same thing. I was going to come in here, work my tail off, try to earn a spot and help this team. I told my friends through the draft process that whatever team picks me is going to get everything out of me. Everything I got. It just so happened it was Winnipeg. Since being here, I’m just so grateful this is the spot I landed because this is a top-tier organization.”