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Published Oct 11, 2025 • 4 minute read
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Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ Ethan Ball (29) hangs onto Edmonton Elks’ Javon Leake (22) during first half CFL action in Edmonton on Oct. 11, 2025. Photo by Amber Bracken /The Canadian PressArticle content
This one’s going to hurt.
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With a chance to clinch a playoff spot and keep pace with B.C. and Calgary in the race for second place in the CFL West, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers instead fell closer to the basement on Saturday.
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A 25-20 loss in Edmonton on Saturday dropped the Bombers to 8-8, with the 7-9 Elks still alive and on their tail.
The Blue Bombers may have lost more than a critical game, too, as leading receiver Nic Demski went down with a leg injury.
If there’s a silver lining for Winnipeg, their last two regular-season games will be against teams coasting into the playoffs, Saskatchewan and Montreal, while the Elks had to win to stay alive.
The Bombers need just one more win to punch their ticket to the playoffs, but their chances of hosting a post-season game took a major hit and is now out of their hands.
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“It sucks,” quarterback Zach Collaros told CJOB radio. “You want to reward the fan base. Not saying you can’t get there (to the Grey Cup). We’ve done it before, not playing at home. But you want to reward Wade (Miller, Bombers CEO) and everybody that does so much for us, week in and week out, with a home game. Those things matter.
“It was on my mind. It pisses me off.”
Collaros threw two interceptions but still came close to pulling this one out of the fire on the strength of one of the most spectacular plays of the CFL season.
With less than seven minutes to go and the Bombers down by 12, Collaros heaved a long ball intended for Ontaria Wilson in the Edmonton end zone.
With multiple defenders around him, Wilson went up in the air for it. It popped out of his hands and bounced off a few more, before he stretched to keep it from hitting the ground, corralling it just before it hit the turf.
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“Just give him a chance and he’s got a shot. He’s incredible,” Collaros said.
Like that it was 25-20, Elks.
Winnipeg got the ball one last time with just under two minutes left, but one deep Collaros pass was tipped inches over Brady Oliveira’s hands, while a final one on third-and-four was nowhere near receiver Jerreth Stearns.
The loss, with their erratic performance on offence and a defence that gave up a 64-yard touchdown run to Justin Rankin, comes on the heels of the Bombers’ most impressive game of the year, a 40-3 romp over Hamilton.
“We’ll feel bad for ourselves for about 15 minutes, get on the plane and get to work,” head coach Mike O’Shea said. “The guys will watch the film on the plane ride home … and move on to Sask in a hurry.
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Collaros echoed his coach and wasn’t going to stay down through Thanksgiving Day.
“Be grateful of what we have,” he said. “But get to work. It’s all still in front of us.”
Next up, a visit by the Riders on Friday.
The Bombers and Elks traded first-quarter field goals, Winnipeg’s set up by another big Trey Vaval missed-field-goal return, this one for 58 yards.
Six minutes into the second, the Bombers capped a 10-play, 70-yard drive with a Chris Streveler two-yard sneak, the quarterback’s ninth touchdown of the season.
The Elks answered that with a marathon drive of their own, going 87 yards on 14 plays, quarterback Cody Fajardo taking it the last four yards.
On the Bombers’ last drive of the first half, Collaros threw up a lame duck that fell well short of Demski, JJ Ross picking it off and taking it back 59 yards to the Winnipeg 29.
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Luckily for the Bombers, kicker Vincent Blanchard missed another field goal and the Elks settled for a single, taking an 11-10 lead into the break.
On a third-and-two Edmonton gamble early in the second half, Rankin ran through the Winnipeg defence for a 64-yard touchdown to extend the Elks’ lead to eight.
When the Bombers’ Nick Hallett forced Javon Leake to fumble a punt return, Winnipeg had a momentum-changing play at their fingertips.
Trouble is they couldn’t get the loose ball in their hands, despite a few players who had a shot at it.
So Edmonton’s Kordell Jackson took matters into his hands, picking it up and going 47 yards for another major and a 15-point Elks lead.
“We got a little unlucky,” O’Shea said. “That was the difference in the score. We just weren’t good enough to overcome an unlucky play.”
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Sergio Castillo trimmed the lead to a dozen going into the fourth quarter.
The Bombers got a break on their next possession when the Elks were penalized for an unnecessary hit on Brady Oliveira, keeping a drive alive.
Instead of taking advantage, Collaros tossed a second interception.
The spectacular Wilson catch made it interesting.
As for Demski, he needed just four receiving yards to hit 1,000 for a third straight year, and he got five on a first-quarter catch.
When he pulled up lame on that underthrown pass from Collaros, his night was done.
“He’s one of Zach’s favourite targets,” O’Shea said. “And he gets open.”
“It makes things hard,” the quarterback said.
Oliveira passed the 1000-yard rushing mark in the second quarter, his fourth straight season hitting that milestone, finishing with 117 yards on just 12 carries.
The loss ended a streak of 13 straight Winnipeg wins against Edmonton.
paul.friesen@kleinmedia.ca
X: @friesensunmedia
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