CFL.ca
When I asked Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea on his Monday night call-in show on 680-CJOB if he’s glad he’s seen the last of the Saskatchewan Roughriders this season, O’Shea replied “no way, I’d like to play them again tomorrow, we’ll get them in the playoffs.”
It’s entirely what you would expect from a man with O’Shea’s competitive spirit. Yes, his Blue Bombers had just lost their third game in the last month to the Riders, all three of which had been decided by six points or less.
And as close as they came, the Bombers could not not find a way to conquer the defending Grey Cup champs. O’Shea, when asked why they couldn’t beat the Riders said “we were not good enough.”
Yet, he insisted that the Bombers were the authors of their own demise, and that they could have won any or all of the three meetings with the Riders had they not made a handful of costly mistakes. The rookie head coach pointed to turnovers (they committed more than the Riders in each of the three games), special teams mistakes (they gave up 16 points on special teams in last weekend’s 30-24 loss), and penalties.
Winnipeg was nailed with 13 infractions to just six for the Riders in their third and final meeting. O’Shea also understands there is a reason a team like Saskatchewan protects the football better, has better discipline and makes fewer mistakes.
His challenge is to find the answers to how his club can play a “cleaner” game the next time out. 
For the sake of the Bombers playoff hopes, it will be helpful to Winnipeg’s cause if O’Shea can find those answers this week, because the Bombers will play a massively important game Saturday night in BC against the Lions.
The Lions have inched ahead of the Bombers and into fourth place in theWest Division standings; BC at 6-4 and Winnipeg now 6-5. And even though they dominated the Lions 23-6 earlier this season in Vancouver, O’Shea knows that given the stakes, the task will be much tougher this time around.
Never mind that Travis Lulay is out, by the way, Kevin Glenn has proven time and again in his career he is more than capable.
The Bombers can’t afford the kind of special teams breakdowns they experienced Sunday against the Riders; a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown and a punt return for a touchdown. They also can’t afford to take all the undisciplined, unnecessary roughness penalties that plagued them in the Banjo Bowl.
And they can’t keep losing the turnover battle, they are now minus-7 on the season.
O’Shea promised to address that in a very stern fashion.
The Bombers have been a highly competitive team that plays hard from start to finish this season, which is a nice change for their legion of fans after a couple of very difficult seasons.
But, having lost four of their last five games after their stunning 5-1 start to the season, we are once again asking the question: Just how good are these 2014 Blue Bombers?
Do they have the systems, and just as important, the personnel to make it to the post-season? The 7 games remaining will provide all the answers we are looking for.
