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Game Recap August 22, 2026

Game Recap | Elks 22 Blue Bombers 19

The Blue Bombers squandered a 16-0 first half lead in falling 22-19 to the Elks Friday night; photos by Cameron Bartlett

@EdTaitWFC

EDMONTON — Let’s dispense with the pleasantries here and open with the cold, harsh truth: the Winnipeg Blue Bombers continue to be a frustratingly confounding and absolutely maddening outfit through 10 games of the Canadian Football League season.

And Friday night’s 22-19 loss to the Edmonton Elks in front of 22,805 at Commonwealth Stadium most certainly counts as Exhibit A-through-damn-Z for that argument.

Needing a win to create some momentum to start the second half of the year, the Blue Bombers built a 16-zip lead in the first half, blew that advantage with a collapse in the second half before rallying to tie the game with 101 seconds remaining and then couldn’t get a stop as the Elks moved to 8-3 with a walk-off Vincent Blanchard 40-yard field goal.

To sum up, then, it was perfect encapsulation of this team’s first 10 games in a 60-minute roller-coaster ride.

As a result, the Blue Bombers are 5-5 with the Montreal Alouettes coming to town this Friday.

“That’s so frustrating. I thought we had it,” said running back Brady Oliveira, who finished with 118 yards rushing on 16 carries, adding two catches for 11 yards. “That first half was extremely dominant and we had a lot of good opportunities to finish those drives and we just haven’t yet.

“We’ve got to figure out why… what’s the why in that? Why are we not finishing those drives. We’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror to fix this because I don’t know what that why is right now. Personally, I can do more. I left some plays out there and have to finish some of those long runs.

“That why — why is this happening — has been a common theme this year. I’ll say it again: we have the guys to get this done. We have an extremely talented team. We’ve got talented guys across the board, but this is happening too often.”

Further to Oliveira’s take:

-Winnipeg ran 40 offensive plays and had the ball for almost 23 minutes in the first half but did squander some opportunities. But after generating 16 first downs in the first half, had just two — T-W-O — in the final 30 minutes.

And even with all that, still had a shot to seal the deal late.

But didn’t.

“A tale of two halves for both teams,” said head coach Mike O’Shea afterward. “We had a really good first half and I would say Edmonton is probably thinking they could have been better in the first half. And then we didn’t play very well in the second half and didn’t make enough plays and they did.

“A tight battle, we lose by three points to a good football team and that’s never going to be good enough. We’ve got to find a way to make plays to get that to go our way.”

More thoughts on the Blue Bombers fifth loss of the season from our view in the press box…

5 INSTANT TAKEAWAYS

1 The first half vs. second half offensive numbers in further detail: Zach Collaros was 16-of-23 for 190 yards and a TD strike to Tim White in the first two quarters.

But in the second half, he didn’t have his first completion until there were less than 11 minutes left in the game and finished 19-of-30 for 219 yards. The math there: that’s 3-of-7 for 29 yards in the final 30 minutes.

“We didn’t play well enough to win the game,” Collaros said afterward. “We’ve got to finish drives in the first half and we’ve got to stay on the field in the second half.

“Hat’s off to Edmonton. We definitely had plays to be made there.”

2 The Blue Bombers had tied the game with the late Sergio Castillo field goal, but the Elks then moved from their own 39-yard line to Winnipeg’s 33 in the final minute, twice converting second-down opportunities. Included in that were some atrocious finishing on tackles by the Winnipeg defence.

“That’s tough, man, because I actually felt like we played pretty good,” said linebacker Kyrie Wilson. “Right up until that last second where we couldn’t finish. We left too many plays out there.

“They’re a good football team, but we’ve got to finish at the end of games.”

3 A positive result could have a defining moment for the Blue Bombers in a tough, tough West Division. As it stands Winnipeg, at 5-5, is now not only three wins shy of the Elks, but has now lost the season series, too.

4 After managing just five first downs in the first half, the Elks had 18 in the final 30 and dominated the ending the way the Blue Bombers had early. Winnipeg left points on the board by settling for a 15-yard field goal on the first drive, gambling and failing on a third and three from the Elks five on the second.

Still… they did lead 16-zip and 16-6 at halftime before unfolding.

5 Castillo was good on all four of his field goal attempts, including bombs from 52 and 53 yards. That now makes him the CFL record holder for most 50-yard field goals in a career, with 43.

There were a ton of them, from the missed opportunities in the first half to the ineffectiveness in the second, but in a game decided on a walk-off field goal the Blue Bombers needed a stop late and couldn’t get it.

Critical in that was an 11-yard Cody Fajardo completion to T.J. Luther on a second and 10 with 26 seconds remaining.

2 — The number of first downs by the Blue Bombers in the second half. After going up 16-0, Winnipeg had five consecutive two and outs and an interception before the Castillo game-tying field goal.

The Blue Bombers are home to the Montreal Alouettes on Friday, August 28th for Military Appreciation Night and the club announced today ticket sales have already surpassed the 30,000 mark. The scheduled start time is just after 7:30 p.m.