SportsCage analyst Arash Madani believes the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, led by head coach Mike O'Shea, are not the powerhouse the team once was.
"When this Blue Bomber team was 3-1, I came on the show and I told you they don't look good, there's a problem here. I wouldn't say smoke in mirrors, it's what you saw. Through this season, everything that I told you after Week 4 is coming to fruition," Madani said on the SportsCage. "It feels like the message is getting stale. It feels like this football team got old fast. It feels like they're doing the same old thing that isn't working anymore."
Madani understands 37-year-old Zach Collaros is getting up there in years, but he does not think 30-year-old Chris Streveler is the answer for the Bombers at quarterback.
"They're trying to convince themselves, each other, the public, that Chris Streveler is going to be some answer. Look, even Zach is looking long in the tooth at times this season," Madani explained. "They have run this whole thing back two years too many. That's a lot of the guys on the roster and that's the head coach, too. At some point here, the results are going to speak for themselves."
Winnipeg has lost three games in a row and have been without Collaros due to a head injury sustained in the Labour Day rematch against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Streveler finished that game after Collaros left in the third quarter. The 54-year-old O'Shea still has confidence in Streveler's abilities to lead the team.
"I think people are forgetting what Chris has done for us. You look back at his run in 2019 — it's common knowledge that he played with an injury that most people wouldn't even step on the field with. He happened to tear it up, gut it out and help lead us to a championship," O'Shea said.
"That leadership, that fire, it's still all evident. He has played for us since and won us games. He's stood in the pocket and delivered, he's run the ball, and when he's in there, he certainly allows us to have a whole bunch of different plays that most quarterbacks wouldn't be able to do."
That injury O'Shea was referring to happened when Streveler suffered a distal tibia fracture and a severe high-ankle sprain in a 37-33 Week 19 loss against the Calgary Stampeders on October 19, 2019. He served as the Bombers' backup and package QB in Winnipeg's playoff run to win the first Grey Cup in 2019, the team's first since 1990.
The Blue Bombers play the Ottawa Redblacks on Saturday, TSN's Glen Suitor believes both teams must win.
"With the way the standings are and the logjam that's down there, I think this is close to a must-win for both of these teams. The team that loses that game probably doesn't make the playoffs. There's a very good chance they're not making the playoffs," Suitor said. "That could mean Winnipeg. If Dru Brown comes back and they get that offence firing on all cylinders, they've got great weapons in the receiving corps, Ottawa does. Let's see what they can do with Dru Brown back in the saddle. But I feel like in that game, the team that loses that game is out of the playoffs."
