Blue Bombers coaches shocked, sickened, by CFL changes

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Published Sep 23, 2025 • 4 minute read

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Special teams co-ordinator Mike Miller says he was sickened by the changes to the CFL. KEVIN KING/Winnipeg SunArticle content

Winnipeg Blue Bombers players and coaches sat in front of their big screens on Monday and watched the CFL take a new direction.

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The turn made at least one of them feel sick to the stomach.

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“When I heard the news watching the press conference, I just had a really weird feeling in my gut when they announced it,” special teams coordinator Mike Miller said, Tuesday. “Just a little sickening. I didn’t expect it. Just felt it in my stomach… like I ate something bad.”

CFL commissioner Stewart Johnson and the nine team governors are force-feeding players, coaches and fans changes that erase some of the unique aspects of the Canadian game.

Shortening the field from 110 yards to 100 and moving the goal posts to the back of end zones make the game look more American.

B.C. Lions Canadian quarterback Nathan Rourke, arguably the league’s marquee player, called the changes “garbage.”

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Miller, a guy from small-town New Brunswick who played 11 seasons and is coaching in his second, has a similar view.

“Even just the shortening of the field, a lot of the stadiums they put the ‘C’ at centre and to me, that was for ‘Canadian,’” he said. “I’m just shocked, obviously, with the news. It didn’t sit well.”

Head coach Mike O’Shea is cut from similar cloth, wearing his homegrown heart on his sleeve at the best of times.

With parts of the game under attack, O’Shea wasn’t shy about his displeasure, praising Rourke for his heartfelt soliloquy in Vancouver a day earlier.

“We love the Canadian brand of football,” O’Shea said. “It’s a great game. I think everybody understands where I would stand. I’ll say it. If we’re going to be altering the game and removing uniquely Canadian items from the game, I would never be in favour of that.

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“Because it’s ours. Uniquely ours.”

Rourke’s comments included this: “What we’re moving towards is not the Canadian football game that I grew up loving. We’re getting away from that. And frankly that makes me pretty pissed off.”

Asked which change drew most of his ire, O’Shea pointed to the goal-post shift, which will all but eliminate missed field goal returns, one of the game’s most exciting plays.

The Bombers just got a 128-yard touchdown from rookie Trey Vaval, plus another one for 71 yards, in their win over Ottawa last week,

“It would be highly unlikely that anyone’s ever going to do that again once they move the posts,” O’Shea said. “We can get two in one game. And we’ve scored on one, we’ve had one scored against us. Let alone all the yardage that’s been accumulated.”

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The CFL brass says getting the goal posts out of the way and shortening the field will produce more touchdowns.

Without hard evidence, O’Shea’s not convinced.

The lack of consultation – neither players nor coaches were involved in the decisions – has him as perplexed as anything.

“I would think transparency would be important,” he said. “I have no clue why we wouldn’t have been asked.”

O’Shea’s own boss, Bombers CEO Wade Miller, was one of the governors who voted for the changes. The league said it was unanimous.

“I don’t know that I’m disappointed in the people,” the coach said. “The decision, the idea of it. That’s it.”

Some players were less vocal about the changes, which will be implemented over the next two seasons.

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“Coming up here I’ve grown to love the Canadian Football League for what it is, for what it stands for, the uniqueness of the game, the 55, the goalposts there – that’s us,” kicker and Texas native Sergio Castillo said. “And I say ‘us’ because this is my home. It’s been my home for the past 10, 11 years. We’ll see how it plays out.”

The one thing that definitely won’t play out is returns like Vaval’s last week.

“That kind of sucks,” Castillo acknowledged. “It’s taking a little bit away from what makes the CFL the CFL.”

O-lineman Pat Neufeld is willing to take a wait-and-see approach. He’s glad other unique aspects of the game are left untouched, at least.

“As a Canadian you grew up loving this game and all the nuances to it, what makes it our game,” the Regina product said. “But you also have to trust the league is trying to do what’s best for the league, the growth of this game and where football’s heading.”

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Receiver Nic Demski is taking a similar approach.

“There’s some stuff that you scratch your head at, but there’s other things that make sense,” Demski said.

The Winnipegger has mixed feelings about the goal-post move, lamenting the loss of field goal returns but welcoming more room in the end zone to catch passes.

Quarterback Zach Collaros says the changes aren’t as radical as they could have been.

“I will miss the 55 (yard line),” he said. “It’s all interesting. I had no idea this kind of stuff was coming down the pipe.”

The worry for some is it’s only the start.

“I understand that argument, too. Like if this happens now, what’s next?” Collaros said. “I don’t think you can cross that line, ever. The three downs, 12 players, yard off the ball, the waggle, the ratio, those things you can’t (touch).”

A day earlier, teammates and coaches may have said the same about the 55-yard line and the uprights at the goal line.

“When you see the shortening of the field and uprights in the back,” Miller said. “Then immediately you start thinking about a different brand of football.”

paul.friesen@kleinmedia.ca

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Blue Bombers coaches shocked, sickened, by CFL changes

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