OTTAWA — It’s mid-September and that time on the calendar when the days grow shorter and the nights are getting long and for those Canadian Football League squads chasing playoff spots the angst levels are spiking upward.
And if you’ve been following the Winnipeg Blue Bombers over the last few years, the 2025 season has gone completely against the script we’ve watched unfold before. Yes, from 2021-24 this bunch has often locked down playoff spots at this time of year, then clinched first and spent the last few weeks deciding who to rest for a playoff run.
This year? There’s a hint of anxiety in the air in Bomberland as the club, 6-7, faces the Ottawa Redblacks here in the nation’s capital in today’s matinee.
“It’s crucial to win this week and get back to our brand of football,” receiver Nic Demski told media upon arrival at the team’s hotel on Friday. “We’ve got to play good football in all three phases. It sounds pretty cliché but if we do that then we’re going to be where we need to be.
“We’re going to come together as a team this week, for sure… not that we haven’t in other weeks, but this week we need to get back on track.”
The Blue Bombers, 6-7, are trying to end a three-game skid here this afternoon and fell into fourth place in the West Division Friday night with the B.C. Lions crushing the Calgary Stampeders 52-23 to improve to 7-7. Meanwhile the possibility of a crossover gained momentum with the Montreal Alouettes edging the Toronto Argonauts 21-19, dropping the third place in the East Division Boatmen to 5-9.
At the same time, this crew has its own issues to clean up than to worry about what’s happening in someone else’s back yard.
“You just can’t get ahead of yourself, and I’ve been saying that this entire season whenever you guys talk to me,” said quarterback Chris Streveler, who gets the start today with Zach Collaros on the one-game injured list for another week. “If you play the ifs, ands and buts game in this business you’re going to drive yourself crazy and send yourself down a rabbit hole you don’t want to go down.
“The biggest thing is people outside of our building want to talk about it; we’re not talking about it. This biggest thing for us is trying to block that outside that outside noise of what other people are saying and what they’re thinking because that ultimately doesn’t matter.
“What matters is the work we’re putting in and the guys we have in that locker room and our process to prepare.”
ICYMI, here is our Game Preview from Friday:
And follow along here as we present a collection of notes/quotes/anecdotes to help get Blue Bombers fans up to speed for today’s critical matchup with the Redblacks in this week’s GAME DAY HQ…
BACKING STREV
The QB debate in Winnipeg has taken a different twist with Collaros on the mend and Streveler 2-1 this year in relief but with his touchdown-to-interception ratio at 6:10. The voices calling for the club to take a look at Terry Wilson, who has dressed this year as either the No. 3 QB or right behind Streveler when Collaros is out, have only grown louder.
Here’s Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea when asked by Jeff Hamilton of The Free Press what it’s going to take for the team to take a look at Wilson:
“He’s putting in the work and we like what he does. We also know who Chris is as a leader and until you get a guy in — and the question is what’s it going to take — I don’t know, those are good questions. There’s not many times where we’ve said, ‘Oh, let’s just flip it up’ because the guy who you have as your starter gets the bulks of the reps and the bulk of the opportunity.
“The other guys work their asses off behind the scene, and on the field during the play they’re showig you that they understand the offence and hte reads and you certainly take note of that.
“The one thing we know about Chris that we don’t necessarily know about other people is we know he’s going to lead and he’s going to lay it on the line, put his body on the line every single play, for his guys. That just makes the decision easier.”
AIR DEFENCE TINKERING
A couple of changes to the secondary this week, with Jamal Parker, Jr. coming back from the injured list and now listed ahead of Dexter Lawson, Jr. at one spot and with Michael Griffin II having been moved to the one-game injured list.
Parker, Jr. started the season at safety before switching to corner and then injuring his leg. His versatility is just one of the many skills that have long made him a favourite of defensive coordinator Jordan Younger.
“He’s put an enormous amount of work in that you don’t see everybody put in when they’re hobbled. Besides that, he’s a terrific athlete, a good teammate, a good communicator — all those things are really important, too — but he was a guy that was slated to start for us several times.
“He’s that super sweetheart of a guy and then he bears his teeth and it’s, ‘Oh, back up.’ He’s a good guy to be around. I really enjoy being around him.”
LOCK IN
The Blue Bombers have been doing just enough wrong in the last few weeks to turn potential wins into losses. Penalties at the worst times. Turnovers in critical moments. Assignment mistakes that shouldn’t be happening this late in the season.
And so veteran linebacker Tony Jones offered this message:
“We’ve got to execute at a high level. We can’t go out there and make the same mistake we’ve already fixed in meetings or in the game. We just can’t take turns making mistakes because one big one can cost you a game.
“We know as a group that if all three phases are executing we can be a top team in the league. It’s the timing of those little errors. They can’t be here, here and here every once in a while. We have to clean those up and go out there and play a full 60.
“We know if we all dial in and do the little extra things we’ll be OK in the playoffs. This is the perfect time to get things rolling.
“This is the time to lock in. These are crucial games for everybody, including the teams behind us.”
NOTABLE
Demski had six catches for 128 yards last week and is now at 5,441 receiving yards as a Blue Bomber, ninth in team history. He is closing in on both Clarence Denmark (5,478) for eighth and Ernie Pitts (5,525) for seventh. At 417 receptions, his next will move him into the team’s Top-5 list.
The league issued more fines dating back to the Banjo Bowl, with Roughriders DL Benoit Marion nailed for an unnecessary hit on Blue Bombers DB Ethan Ball; with OL Pat Neufled hit for an unnecessary hit on Kosi Onyeka and CJ Reavis — previously fined for his hit on Collaros — fined again for violating the CFL’s social media policy.
Tony Jones is second in the league with 82 defensive tackles
Since returning to the CFL, Pokey Wilson has 10 catches for 163 yards and a touchdown in two games.
Dustin Crum has led Ottawa in rushing over the last three games (186 yards on 27 carries). He also passed for 300+ yards in each of his past two games. He is a career 1-0 against Winnipeg, while Dru Brown is 1-2 against his former team.