‘Playoffs start now’

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers let a major opportunity slip through their fingers, and they know it.

“F—- yeah. That game was ours,” said defensive end Willie Jefferson on Friday’s 30-28 loss at home to the Toronto Argonauts.

It was — and then they gave it away in the final five minutes.

The Bombers came out firing, jumping out to a 21-7 lead. They had a chance to close out the contest while leading 28-27 with two minutes remaining, but couldn’t do it. Quarterback Dru Brown was sacked by linebacker Adarius Pickett, forcing the Bombers to punt, and the Argos took full advantage.

“The guy who beat me got the sack. I don’t think I slept a wink because of that very play right there,” said receiver Nic Demski after Monday’s practice.

“Everything’s magnified when you lose, so, I know it didn’t come down to that one play, but at the end of the day, there are plays like that for everybody and we all have to step up to the occasion.”

Instead of being in a three-way tie for second place in the West Division with the B.C. Lions and Saskatchewan Roughriders — who are both 8-6 — the Bombers are now 7-7, with the Calgary Stampeders (7-8) breathing down their necks for the final playoff spot.

The Bombers have four games remaining, beginning Saturday in Montreal against the East Division-leading Alouettes (11-3), who are fresh off a bye.

“It’s a sucky situation to be in, but if we can take these next four games and lock in mentally, and just do what we need to do in these four games, that puts us in (position) of walking into the playoffs hot, right when we need to be,” said Jefferson.

“No matter if we cross over or if we are in the West, whichever way it goes, I feel good about us playing whoever we have to play in the first round.”

A key reason the Bombers find themselves at .500 is their inability to consistently put together four strong quarters.

“It doesn’t feel good. We know how to win games. It’s just there’s something there where we’ve got to figure out how to finish properly,” said Demski.

“We’re too good of a football team to lose, in my opinion, in the first place at all. But especially games like that where we’re in a perfect position to win and close it out and we just didn’t come together and do that.”

Head coach Mike O’Shea hasn’t been able to pinpoint the direct cause.

“We have to give the opponents some credit, too. Toronto is a very good football team. In all three phases, they can play very good football. I’d imagine they’re talking about their half saying it was uncharacteristically poor,” said head coach Mike O’Shea.

“There’s natural ebbs and flows in every game. Ours seem to come in the second half a little bit. I wouldn’t say it’s like that in every game, by any means, but it’s certainly something we look at when we watch the film. If there was something that we thought was glaringly hitting us in the face that we could address and fix, we’d be doing that.”

Brown was the epitome of that on Friday, throwing for just 15 yards in the final 30 minutes after leading the team into the end zone on three of its first five drives.

Starting quarterback Zach Collaros (head) wasn’t at practice Monday, and all signs point to Brown making another start this weekend.

“I think the mood is people are understanding and asking more of themselves. And I think that’s what’s cool about here, there’s no finger pointing or anything like that, we know we’ve got to stick together and just continue to act with urgency, communicate with one another about what we need from each other and hold people accountable,” said Brown.

“It’s cool cause I know how hard that can be within a team, but it’s awesome because we’ve got good people here and people that want to be great.”

A win against Montreal would go a long way towards being great, and next week’s home affair against Calgary is a must-win because it will decide the tiebreaker between the two teams.

“Playoffs start now,” said Demski.

“I think that was kind of the message last week in a way, but where we’re at now, and with how the West is shaping out, it’s go time.”

Injury update

Defensive lineman Jake Ceresna, who hobbled off the field at the end of the first half Friday, did not practice Monday. It wasn’t all doom and gloom on the injury front, though, as receiver Ontaria Wilson was a full participant for the first time since injuring his hand in the Labour Day Classic.

Wilson fell on the concrete beyond the end zone in the fourth quarter and has been out ever since.

“I hit the asphalt pretty hard. Like why after the end zone is it such a short amount of space before you hit the concrete? That’s the craziest thing to me,” Wilson told reporters Monday.

“It hurt. I smacked my hand pretty hard when I came down.”

Wilson is confident it won’t affect his pass-catching ability moving forward. And in 12 games this season, Wilson has 56 receptions for 739 yards and five touchdowns.

“I’ve been catching it all my life,” said Wilson. “Nothing major, nothing to overthink, just see the ball, get the ball.”

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