{"id":801200,"date":"2026-07-14T11:39:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T11:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/801200\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T11:39:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T11:39:10","slug":"winnipeg-blue-bombers-have-a-quarterback-controversy-on-their-hands-whether-mike-oshea-likes-it-or-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/801200\/","title":{"rendered":"Winnipeg Blue Bombers have a quarterback controversy on their hands, whether Mike O’Shea likes it or not"},"content":{"rendered":"

Through six weeks, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are 3-2, but they have a potential quarterback controversy on their hands. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Nov
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNov 9, 2024; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike O\u2019Shea watches the play during the first half of the game between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Princess Auto Stadium.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBruce Fedyck-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The CFL has a couple of interesting quarterback situations<\/a>, and they got even more interesting within the last week.<\/p>\n

We know the disaster that is the Ottawa Redblacks with Jake Maier, as they sit at 0-5 and that merges into the conversation surrounding the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. At the end of June, the Blue Bombers traded with the Redblacks for quarterback Dru Brown. It ended the competition in Ottawa, but it created an issue with the future in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

Blue Bombers could now have a quarterback controversy<\/p>\n

Before the season, Zach Collaros decided to return to Winnipeg for one more season. The 38-year-old quarterback has led the Blue Bombers to five consecutive Grey Cups from 2019-2024 (no season in 2020), and head coach Mike O\u2019Shea made it known how much he believed in Collaros.<\/p>\n

\u201c(A decline to his game is) not what I see,\u201d\u00a0O\u2019Shea told the media in Winnipeg before the season<\/a>. \u201cI see a guy who is the best quarterback in the league.\u201d<\/p>\n

He might be the only one who still sees that. Before he suffered an injury against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Week 5, Collaros was struggling. He was completing 71.8% of his passes, but only for 985 yards, five touchdowns, and three interceptions. Within those simple stats, Collaros was showing major struggles throwing the ball down the field with there being less zip on the intermediate throws.<\/p>\n

That is something that Brown didn\u2019t have on Friday night against the Toronto Argonauts. He gave the Blue Bombers that element, and the offense clicked for the first time this season. The only touchdown Brown threw is a perfect example of what that brings.<\/p>\n

Brown wasn\u2019t perfect. He threw an interception, and couldn\u2019t punch in a second touchdown, leading to five field goals. That\u2019s better than what Collaros was producing in recent weeks, but it\u2019s still something that remains a concern. Even so, the moment wasn\u2019t lost on Brown.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was special,\u201d said Brown after Friday\u2019s 30-21 win<\/a>. \u201cI can\u2019t really express\u2026 I feel like I say it all the time, but I really love it here, my family loves it here, and the support that I\u2019ve gotten from everyone in the building and in the community means a lot to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown was with the Blue Bombers from 2021-2023 and made a handful of starts in relief of Collaros. The only reason he didn\u2019t dress in the last couple of weeks was due to O\u2019Shea not wanting to put him in a bad situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he made it look easier than it really is,\u201d said head coach Mike O\u2019Shea<\/a>. \u201cI think it would be unjust to say, \u2018Well, he just steps in and it\u2019s because he knows this and he knows that.\u2019 He works his ass off, so this isn\u2019t luck; this isn\u2019t, \u2018Oh, he\u2019s been in the system.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a guy who puts in a tremendous amount of time \u2014 that whole room does. It\u2019s interesting to see them work together. They just love it, the four of them. It\u2019s really cool. And then you throw Tommy (Condell, offensive coordinator) into the mix and they put in a ton of work. When things look easy, it\u2019s because they work their tails off for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sitting at 3-2, it\u2019s a big decision sitting in front of O\u2019Shea. We still don\u2019t the health of Collaros either short- or long-term, but his status shouldn\u2019t matter here. Brown played the best quarterback game of the season for Winnipeg, and it wasn\u2019t close. That should be the focus here.<\/p>\n

If O\u2019Shea does make the change, it\u2019ll be at the expense of \u201chis guy,\u201d as they won two Grey Cups in five appearances together. It\u2019s not the ideal end to Collaros\u2019 career, but if the Blue Bombers want to have a chance to win the Grey Cup, making the move to Brown should be the decision.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Jun\t\t<\/p>\n

NFL<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tCFL QB Power Rankings: Injuries to Bo Levi Mitchell and Zach Collaros significantly reshape dynamic of the league\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s never great to see two of the best quarterbacks in the league go down due to injury, and <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"Detroit\t\t<\/p>\n

Dallas Cowboys News<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tOne of the newest players on the Dallas Cowboys is being courted by a CFL team, which says a lot about his roster chances\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

The Dallas Cowboys recently signed a few players to the roster ahead of training camp, and he\u2019s now being targeted by the CFL\u2019s Toronto Argonauts, who have two Cowboys on their negotiation list. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Through six weeks, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers are 3-2, but they have a potential quarterback controversy on their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":801201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,14966,170990,82,7504,52049],"class_list":["post-801200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-dru-brown","tag-mike-oshea","tag-sports","tag-winnipeg-blue-bombers","tag-zach-collaros"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}