Can we stick a fork in the Blue Bombers?

[ArgoRavi]

They have to be done after the whipping that the Argos laid on them on Saturday night. I still can't believe that all of Stegall, Dunigan and Schultz said on Friday night that Winnipeg would make the playoffs. What were they thinking?

[1argoholic]

You can stick a pitch folk in them and there fans.

[paulwoods13]

The only way the Bombers were making the playoffs as of Friday night was if they won at least five of their last six and one or both of the Argos and Ticats lost a lot of games through that stretch. The Argos are now four games ahead of Winnipeg with five to go, so they are not catching us, at least. At 3-10, with Pierce clearly finished and with Hamilton's personnel (notwithstanding their incredible inconsistency), yes, I think we can stick a fork in the Bombers. I would bet Mack and Burke will both be gone after this season. Be interesting to see who takes over as GM there. Some rumours are already pegging Tillman for the job -- makes sense if Edmonton misses the playoffs, as now seems probable. Would Dickenson take a head coaching job there under those circs? Or would Tillman hire another of his proteges?

[ArgoRavi]

The Bombers' regular season record during the Joe Mack era is now 17-32. If you take away two months where they seemed to play over their heads (July-August of 2011), it is 10-31. Yet, I still see some Winnipeg fans who claim that Mack has brought in this extraordinary talent. The record over the last three years would indicate otherwise.

[gilthethrill]

Does Buck play football again?

[1argoholic]

Buck has to think of his long life after playing and get into coaching. Even if he came back and never got injured again how long would he have, two or three years, It's not worth it and I hope he calls it a career. I like the guy and feel really sad for him.

[ArgoGabe22]

Does Buck play football again?

Nothing has stopped him now, I think he'll still play if given the chance. The only thing that will stop him is if the doctors tell him to stop.

[AngeloV]

I would say they are very likely done. The only chance they have is to catch Hamilton (having won the season series against them and still playing them one more time), but that seems very unlikely. The Bombers are 1-10 against teams that don't wear black and gold.

[ArgoRavi]

I would say they are very likely done. The only chance they have is to catch Hamilton (having won the season series against them and still playing them one more time), but that seems very unlikely. The Bombers are 1-10 against teams that don't wear black and gold.

The Bombers have to beat out both Hamilton and Edmonton to make the playoffs and those two teams play each other this weekend so they will be effectively three games behind one of those teams and two behind the other with only five games to play.

[gilthethrill]

The Bombers have to beat out both Hamilton and Edmonton to make the playoffs and those two teams play each other this weekend so they will be effectively three games behind one of those teams and two behind the other with only five games to play.

Hamilton should beat the trainwreck that is the Edmonton Eskimos. Winnipeg still has a chance!!!

[Will]

3 games on the road left, 2 at home

The Bombers haven't been remotely competitive on the road since they narrowly lost to us in July. Although, they've had success against Hamilton, but then again Hamilton is a different team at IWS vs. the road too.

[294life]

we'll know monday for sure. if somehow the als let it slip at home I don't like their chances in TO.

[jerrym]

The only fork being stuck in anything today is the one going in the turkey as Hamilton lost and Elliott was impressive in leading the Bombers to victory over Montreal.

[gilthethrill]

Great, with Winnipeg beating Montreal, now we have to put up with the experts telling us that Winnipeg is a playoff contender once again....

[294life]

here's a scenario:

als lose all their games and bombers win all theirs.

argos beat als and lose the rest while ticats win all their other games and you have 4 teams tied at 8-10. lol

[Argocister]

here's a scenario:

als lose all their games and bombers win all theirs.

argos beat als and lose the rest while ticats win all their other games and you have 4 teams tied at 8-10. lol

So how does the tiebreaker work?

[ArgoRavi]

So how does the tiebreaker work?

The Argos would probably do well in that scenario as they would have won the season series against both Montreal and Winnipeg and possibly against Hamilton as well (as long as they avoid a loss of more than 8 points to the Ticats in their final game).

[AngeloV]

I'm pretty sure a 4 way tie would then come down to records withing the division.

[ArgoRavi]

We know this much now - the Bombers cannot catch the Argos in the standings after their 32-21 loss to Calgary today.

[1argoholic]

I have to admit The Bombers D played their hearts out today. How did Calgary not put up 70 points. You turn the ball over 7 times and still keep it that close. Glad Bombers lost though.

[gilthethrill]

Elliott had a poor game with 4 picks, 3 of which were in the endzone. He has won the CFL POW award twice, the game after he wins it he turns in a bad performance. Wonder who starts against the Argos Friday night?

[1argoholic]

Buck will start and we'll feel bad for knocking him out of his career. Hopefully they sit him. I still think Elliott could have been good if he wasn't always thrown into the fire.

Go Argos Go!!!

[Gill The Thrill]

you'd have to go with Elliot. He's their future, and he has played enough good games to warrant that tag. Sure, he was sloppy and threw 4 ints yesterday but that's what you get with young QB's who may want to do too much all at once...they start forcing throws when their team is down and want to make a difference. He's shown that he could be a decent starter in the league and with more consistency which can usually occur with playing game experience, I can't see him not becoming one.

I also don't think the Bombers should make all those changes and fire everyone unless they have someone that they are sure is not just available but can do a better job than Mack...in other words, someone with winning experience in the CFL. Quite frankly, these guys are not around as they are usually gainfully employed and stick with their teams for long durations because they are successful, guys like Trestman, Popp, Bouno, Hufnagel etc.

I also think Winnipeg defensively is a strong team, that has had inconsistency on offence. Had Buck played all year, they'd be battling the Argos for 2nd, which means they may be battling for 1st since the Argos are one game away from 1st in the east. Based on the Bombers poor scheduling and stadium difficulties, Mack should get a pass, the only fault I have with him is that he did not offer that same mercy to Paul LaPolice who should have also gotten a pass based on the ridiculous schedule that they had to start the year.

I thought the team was actually starting to turn it around after those first 5 games and would have been in the playoff hunt had they held out hope and retained Lapolice. When they fired Lapolice, their season was done as far as I'm concerned...This was confirmed with the Bombers first two games under Burke, his intro game, a 52-0 blowout at Mosaic on Labour Day weekend and just as bad, the blown lead in the banjo bowl which saw Burke lose all focus while outsmarting himself on the sidelines with his decision to punt resulting in a single instead of going for a field goal on 3rd down which would have at least had the potential to force the Riders to score a major to win the game in the last minute. (memories of Obie in the '84 Eastern Final)

You can fire Mack, but who will they bring in...and will he actually be better. It's tough to judge Burke because he did not have an off-season to prepare to be a head coach, he was thrust into the position hastily and some of his on-field decisions are indicative of a man who was put into that position. So maybe he could be a decent coach with off-season preparation time...we won't know unless he gets that chance to develop his own playbook from scratch.

[gilthethrill]

You can fire Mack, but who will they bring in...and will he actually be better

GILL, have you ever wondered by long time Edmonton Assistant GM Paul Jones has never been promoted to a GM position?

[Gill The Thrill]

You can fire Mack, but who will they bring in...and will he actually be better

GILL, have you ever wondered by long time Edmonton Assistant GM Paul Jones has never been promoted to a GM position?

Paul is based in the United States which is most beneficial for his scouting of import talent over the years. He probably may not want to relocate to Winnipeg, nor any place else in Canada as it may result in him losing his pulse or feel for the contacts that he has developed south of the border over the last 20 years.

According to his bio in the Eskimos site, he lives in Alabama, a place called Grand Bay. http://www.esks.com/page/profile-pjones