‘It’s always a nice story when you have an underdog story’

There’s no sugarcoating it: the Winnipeg Blue Bombers aren’t a popular pick to win this weekend.

Oddsmakers have the Bombers as massive 9.5-point underdogs for Saturday’s Eastern final against the Montreal Alouettes.

Considering Winnipeg (9-9) stumbled its way here while Montreal (14-4) was the class of the league from start to finish, it’s easy to see why.

“I think that’s perfect, honestly. I absolutely love that we are viewed as an underdog,” said running back Brady Oliveira.

“I want everyone to pick the Als. It’s perfect.”

Some would say the Bombers are playing with house money.

“Yeah, that’s definitely a good way to put it,” said receiver Nic Demski. “Everybody would probably put their bets on them, but it’s always a nice story when you have an underdog story.”

When the Bombers visited Montreal last month, they got punched in the mouth early and often in what turned into a 37-10 beatdown.

“We literally have no pressure,” said Oliveira.

“We can go out there and literally just play free and have belief that we’re gonna go out there and we’re gonna upset them. For them, on the other hand, I’m not in their building, I don’t know what they’re doing, but they have everything to play for.”

Defensive end Willie Jefferson couldn’t care less about the standings or the betting odds. But if his teammates want to use the long line of doubters as extra motivation, he has no issue with that.

“If that’s what some guys want to channel to make them play their best, then yes. But as long as we can go out there and play our best game this year and make Montreal play how we want to play, then I feel like we have a chance,” said Jefferson.

“We’ve got to hit our bullseye when we have opportunities to.”

The Alouettes own the league’s best point differential at plus-148. The Bombers, meanwhile, took a few lickings along the way to finish the regular season at minus-15.

Montreal is also a perfect 9-0 at Percival Molson Stadium this season.

But this isn’t a best-of-seven series. Anything can happen in one game, and the Bombers’ veterans know that better than most after enduring some painful Grey Cup losses in recent years.

“That’s the beauty of playoff football,” said Demski.

“For us, this is our one opportunity to make it to the next stage and we’ve got to put everything into it and we all know that. Everyone’s in really good spirits and has good energy and is doing what they need to do in order to make sure they fulfill their role to allow us to play one more week together.”

On Thursday, Alouettes quarterback Davis Alexander was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player, while his go-to target, Tyson Philpot, was voted the Most Outstanding Canadian.

Montreal’s success has been fuelled in part by a dominant offensive line that surrendered the fewest sacks in the CFL.

The Alouettes also boast a formidable defence that led the three-down loop with a plus-21 turnover ratio.

They’re the first team to reach 14 wins since 2023, when the Bombers (14) and Toronto Argonauts (16) both accomplished the feat. Montreal (11-7) went on to upset Winnipeg in that year’s Grey Cup.

The Bombers know what it’s like to dominate the league awards only to watch a team with a lesser regular-season record hoist the silver mug.

“If you’re the front runner, you’ve had a great regular season,” said Demski.

“Are you just going to relax and think you’re just gonna get handed the win? Or are you gonna have that underdog mentality no matter what? I think in our situation, we’ve always believed in having that underdog mentality no matter where we are.”

Regardless of what anyone else thinks, the Bombers have reason to believe they can do it. Back in Week 13, they stunned Montreal with a 44-28 win at Princess Auto Stadium.

“It’s just a confidence that we’ve done it before in the past and we have the team capable of doing it,” said defensive tackle Jake Ceresna.

“We just gotta show up and play our best game, have a great game defensively, and I think we’ll put ourselves in a great position to win.”

To pull off the upset, the Bombers need more from the offence. Quarterback Dru Brown acknowledged Thursday that 25 points — the total Winnipeg managed in its Eastern semifinal win over Toronto — won’t be enough in la belle province.

“It’s no secret we definitely have to be better,” said Demski.

“Everyone knows how explosive Montreal’s offence is, but I have the utmost confidence in our defence that they’re going to play a great game as well. But for us, we need to take that pressure and workload off our defence and stay on the field.”

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