By Andrew Parker

They came so far and accomplished so much, but the Winnipeg Blue Bombers fell short, 34-23 to the BC Lions in tonight’s Grey Cup Finals. The Bombers were helped along by outstanding efforts from Jovon Johnson and Greg Carr, but Travis Lulay’s consistent BC offence put more points up than Winnipeg could match.

The start is the game was hyped up to fever pitch, but the Bombers’ gameplay didn’t quite fit that vibe. The defence was very excited, but it often took two or even three players to take a Lion receiver down. On offence, Winnipeg was constantly starting deep in their own zone; the worst coming on their first possession when they started within their own 10 yard line. The first quarter saw the first of great catching by Cory Watson, but Chris Garrett and the running game was ineffective throughout much of the game.

Conversely, BC was able to control the ball for longer and get consistent gains that paid off about 9 minutes into the game, when Andrew Harris crossed the line with a 19 yard run for the first score. On BC’s next possession, Winnipeg was able to hold them to a field goal, but followed it up with an interception thrown by Buck Pierce. By the end of the first quarter, BC had over four times as many offensive yards as Winnipeg.

Things began looking up a little in the second… but late in the second. For the first part, Winnipeg continued to keep punter Jamie Boreham busy with plenty of two and outs. Johnson began a Winnipeg drive with good position on a kick return, but it just seemed that Pierce had very few options and had trouble finding open receivers.
The Lions thundered downfield with big passes, but a knockdown in the end zone as Johnson continued to shut down BC’s Arland Bruce forced the Lions to settle for a field goal. Now down by two touchdowns, the Bombers finally caught a break when an unnecessary roughness call gave them a start beyond half. After a nice big pass to Terrence Edwards, Justin Palardy knocked a field goal in off the post to finally put Winnipeg on the board.

Now back on defence in the last few minutes of the half, Alex Suber took to the skies for a super knockdown that stopped the Lions and led to them punting. Winnipeg regained possession with two minutes to go, and began their first glimpse of great offence. Big catches and yards after by both Carr and Watson brought the Bombers up for Palardy to hit another field goal, this time right down the middle with no doubt and a bit of Winnipeg momentum to finish the half.

Heading into the third quarter, the CFL’s best defensive player Johnson continued to lead the Bombers with a huge kick return all the way to the Lions’ 30 yard line. Even with no real offence to follow, he had brought them deep enough for Palardy to make another field goal to make the score 14-9. The Bombers then caught a couple breaks when a Lions’ touchdown pass was caught just out of bounds, and their next field goal attempt bounced off the post and out.

But unfortunately, BC found field goal success a few minutes later, and put the Bombers in a terrible situation when they scored again, this time with a deep ball over the defence to Kierrie Johnson. The Lions kicked the convert with no time left in the quarter, sending the Bombers into the last 15 minutes down 15 points.

The aforementioned terrible situation continued into the fourth, getting downright ugly at times with a BC sack on Pierce and Odell Willis dropping a heartbreakingly close attempt at an interception. The Lions scored again with just under seven minutes to go when Bruce found open ground in the end zone, and if you couldn’t admit it before, things were looking dire for Winnipeg.

But then, help came from above. A high bomb was pulled in by Carr for a Bomber touchdown, followed by a two and out on BC’s offence that was helped along by a sack from Jason Vega. On the resulting punt, the Bombers’ saving grace Johnson came through again with another huge kick return, this time for 47 yards plus a facemask penalty on BC. This set up Winnipeg to get the ball to Edwards for the score, bringing the Bombers to eight points away with less than two minutes on the clock.

But the game would finish with Winnipeg still behind. A failed attempt at a risky onside kick gave BC the chance to knock another field goal, which would finish the game 34-23. To make matters worse, Nickelback was there.

In any case, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have come a long way since last season, and shown great improvement across the board. Pierce has made strides as a leader and quarterback, the offence has turned out stars and the best play of the year, and defence has been the league’s best. There’s no doubt; Winnipeg fans are excited to see what’s to come in 2012.