I expect the Bombers to play some real exciting football for the remainder of the 2026 season.

What I do not expect is that the Bombers are going to make any noise in the 2026 playoffs.

Why Will They Be Entertaining?
The Bombers will do enough good things the rest of this season to make their games entertaining.

With players like Collaros, Jefferson, Oliveira, Singer, Williams, Castillo, Vaval, etc there are players on the Bombers that can play.

We saw in half a game against Edmonton, and the game against Montreal that the Bombers can play some very entertaining and competitive football.

I even expect that the Bombers will hang around in the standings long enough to cause some fans, media, pundits to speculate how Winnipeg will do in the playoffs.

It is not like we are watching Ottawa, a team still trying to find their way.

Why The Bombers Will Not Make Any Noise In The Playoffs
Other teams in past years seem to be able to have mediocre years and somehow still win they Grey Cup…or at least make a good playoff run. But I do not see that in the 2026 Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Just look to the Bombers’ last game, the LDC. They could have won that game. Do not hear me I am not saying that they should have won it. I am saying that they could have won it. But, amongst other things it was mistakes that cost the Bombers.

Or look back to the game against Edmonton where Winnipeg controlled the first half and could do nothing in the second half. And let us try not to remember that game against BC, where the Lions put up 300 yards of rushing.

The one thing that Winnipeg has been consistent at all year is being inconsistent. And that does not just have to do with the players, that has a lot to do with the coaching.

After the Bombers 50-32 loss to Calgary at the end of July, I wrote the following,

“2) Not Running The Ball
Sure Oliveira had 128 yards, but his longest was 45 yards in the 3rd quarter and then…he did not get another touch! That is unfathomable. In his post-game interview, Brady said that he does not think that the team has an offensive identity. Look, I was writing about this issue in 2025.

Almost exactly a year ago on July 29 2025 I wrote, “The real issue; the Bombers do not have an identity in 2025.” If I am Brady I have to feel like I was tricked in the off-season. The Bombers get rid of Hogan, Brady was quite possibly looking at going somewhere else, the Bombers sign Condell who is know as a pass first guy…and yet they still retain Oliveira. back when that was all going down I said that the Bombers must have told Brady that 2026 will be different and that they would run the ball more.

Running the ball is not just about establishing an identity, though that is part of it. Running the ball also slows down the pass rush, something Winnipeg’s offensive line has not been good at blocking. And especially when you have an injury on the offensive line and have to move 3 players into different spots on that line, run blocking is a lot easier than pass blocking. Understanding all of that, the lack of running the ball in the fourth quarter is mind-boggling, and a head scratcher…something I hoped we were getting away from in 2026.

When Oliveira becomes the 5th Canadian in CFL history to rush for 6,000 yards (as he did on Friday night) you have to feed the beast!”

This is an issue that has not been figured out yet. Tommy Condell (the Bombers’ offensive coordinator) and whoever else is putting together the offensive game plans has not figured out when and how to use Brady consistently.

Before the LDC Condell said this,

Read in to that whatever you want, but it did not age well. Tammy said the right things, but then called the wrong game.

If the Bombers do get into the playoffs, I think entering in 3rd place is a very realistic prediction. Then they would have to play a combination of Edmonton (9-3), Saskatchewan (8-4)/BC (6-6). Sure, Calgary could still make it in, but if Calgary makes it in to the playoffs then I think Winnipeg is missing the playoffs.

These standings can still change a fair bit with the remaining games, so I will not start to look at the permutations. But do you think Winnipeg can win 2 of those games on the road in a row? If so, what have the Bombers done this season to give you such confidence?

Final Thoughts
I could realistically see the Bombers coming in to the playoffs in 3rd place and beating the 2nd place team in the Western Semi-Finals. Fans would get their hopes up, and media would write/talk about ‘what if?’ Then I could see the Bombers playing a brutal game in the Western Finals and it being all over.

I could also see the Bombers entering the playoffs in 3rd place and getting absolutely annihilated in the Western-Semi Finals.

What I cannot see is the Bombers winning the Western Semi-Finals, and then the Western Finals.

But hey, that is just my opinion.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments section wherever you are reading this. Catch all my articles here.