A Blue Bomber fan's guide to the division finals

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Published Nov 07, 2025 • Last updated 35 minutes ago • 4 minute read

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Winnipeg Blue Bombers fans don’t have a lot to get excited about this weekend. Photo by John Woods /The Canadian PressArticle content

We’re down to the penultimate weekend in the CFL and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are nowhere in sight.

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Reduced to the role of spectators for the division finals, the Bombers have left thousands of fans clutching tickets they’re not sure what to do with.

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Since Winnipeg last hosted the Grey Cup a decade ago, the Bombers reached the championship game five times. Yet they couldn’t do it the year the game returned to the Manitoba capital.

So now what, local fans – do you hang onto those tickets you spent hundreds of dollars for, or do you try to unload them?

Well, I’m here to help.

I won’t outright tell you whom to pull for in the East and West finals on Saturday, but I’ll provide some fuel for thought, helping you make a decision about the best-case scenario for Grey Cup Sunday.

Let’s start out East, where Hamilton hosts Montreal.

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If anyone can identify with what the Tigers-Cats have at stake, it’s a Bombers fan.

Just six short years ago, Winnipeg was enduring the longest championship drought in the league, a span of 28 seasons that ended in either no sniff of the playoffs, playoff heartbreak, or worse – five times the Bombers reached the Grey Cup during the drought, only to lose.

When it began raining champagne that night in Calgary in 2019 with a 33-12 manhandling of the Ticats, the heavy mantle shifted from the Blue and Gold to the Black and Gold.

Hamilton hasn’t won it all since 1999, an span of 24 seasons. They’ve reached the big game an agonizing four times in the last 11 years but come up empty, including two in a row against Winnipeg (’19 and ’21).

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So empathy shouldn’t be hard to find.

The trouble is there might still be some anger towards one of the Ticats’ biggest stars: receiver Kenny Lawler.

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Lawler bolted Winnipeg in free agency, and we’ve since heard him say the Bombers didn’t make him a priority. The other reason, of course, was money.

Whether you buy the first reason or not – the Bombers have been silent about it – is up to you. There’s no denying the man’s talent and ability to bring fans out of their seats.

Lawler and revived quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell could be worth half the price of admission on their own.

There are other former Bombers to pull for on the Ticats roster, many of those were lured east by Ted Goveia, the former Winnipeg assistant GM who became GM in Hamilton, only to become ill and die of cancer during the season.

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So there’s plenty of sentiment to see the Ticats get to Winnipeg and try to end their 24 years of pain, while paying the ultimate tribute to Goveia at the same time.

Not only that, Hamilton is owned by Bob Young, one of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet.

As for the Alouettes, I understand the wound is still fresh after the they ended the ultimate Winnipeg party before it could even start.

But if you can get past that, there are reasons to pull for Montreal as the East rep next week.

In Davis Alexander, the Als have finally unearthed what the CFL needs most, an exciting, talented – and still undefeated – young quarterback. Just look what Alexander did to what we thought was a solid Bombers defence last weekend, rolling up more than 500 yards of offence.

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That’s one special receiving group in Montreal, too, so the entertainment value that offence brings to the Grey Cup could at partially repay the price of those tickets.

At the top of the Als food chain is former politician and media mogul Pierre Karl Peladeau. Don’t hold that against them. At least he’s paying the bills.

Let’s shift over to the West, where things tend to get a little more personal.

How can’t we be happy for Buck Pierce, Winnipeg’s long-time assistant coach who finally got his chance to be the head man in B.C.?

Pierce’s Lions got off to a rough start, but they’re on a roll, winning their last seven games, including the West semi against Calgary.

And if you want a young quarterback to get excited about, look no further than Nathan Rourke.

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As a bonus, he’s Canadian, trying to become the first homegrown quarterback to lead his team to a Grey Cup title since Russ Jackson in 1969. Roll that around in your brain for a while.

The Leos also have former Bomber Michael Couture on the O-line.

Over to Saskatchewan, where a Winnipeg fan will probably find just one thing they like, although it’s a big one: O-lineman Jermarcus Hardrick.

The prospect of the former Bomber doing his Hardrick Hop into the north end zone after a Riders touchdown is quaint.

But quaint wouldn’t quell the disgust at the thought of the rival Riders moving into the Winnipeg locker-room for Grey Cup week.

Not even the presence of Andrew Harris, the former Bomber running back now coaching Saskatchewan’s, would likely change that.

You know that Bombers team motto on the wall: FIFO, short for Fit In or F-Off?

Erase the first two letters and you get how most Winnipeggers would feel.

On the bright side, every good story needs a villain.

So there you have it, our Bomber fan’s guide to the division finals. Also known as making the most of a Grey Cup gone wrong.

Just hold your nose and watch.

paul.friesen@kleinmedia.ca

X: @friesensunmedia

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A Blue Bomber fan’s guide to the division finals

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