They gasped as their 2021 Grey Cup rings were unveiled, the oohs and aahs – along with a high-pitched shriek from Rasheed Bailey – instantly filling the Pinnacle Club at IG Field.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers did their ring ceremony up right a couple of weekends ago, as they celebrated with their new jewelry and then officially closed the chapter on the second of their back-to-back championship seasons.
Interestingly, it was earlier in the evening when Zach Collaros was asked to speak to the room – all as part of a series of addresses that night – when the Canadian Football League’s Most Outstanding Player delivered a message that could become this team’s mantra as it chases a three-peat. The gist of that message? Find your edge.
“It’s human nature – you accomplish something, and you tend to relax and maybe rest on your laurels,” Collaros said in a recent chat with bluebombers.com. “I think it’s important for us to again realize that what we did was last season, as hard as that is to do sometimes. As much as you want to celebrate and remind everybody who you are, it is a new year.”
“Osh (head coach Mike O’Shea) always preaches it, and we have enough leaders in our room that understand it, but it’s this: ‘What’s going to be my edge? Is it taking extra care of my body? Is it watching extra film? Is it pulling along the young guys? Is it staying positive when things get negative?’ It’s all those things.
“It’s also important for us to say, ‘Hey, whatever we did last year, it’s done.’ There’s all this talk about three-peating… we just want to win the first game.”
The first step in that process goes Friday night at IG Field, as the quest for the three-peat begins with a visit by the Ottawa RedBlacks.
Having already accomplished a rare feat by going back-to-back – only the 2009-10 Montreal Alouettes and the 1996-97 Toronto Argonauts have repeated as Grey Cup champs in the last 39 years, the Blue Bombers now attempt to win three in a row for the first time in franchise history and the first time in the CFL since Edmonton’s five-in-a-row dynasty of 1978-82
“Everybody is saying it, just like last year with the ‘Back-to-Back,’” said Blue Bombers receiver Drew Wolitasky. “You see those ‘Defend the Cup’ signs on people’s lawns… it’s everywhere.”
“Obviously everyone wants to win the Cup and three-peat, but you can’t let that stick in your mind. There’s already so much pressure. Winning last year – and not losing at home – everyone expects us to win, but we can’t let that into our head because it’s too much pressure.
“That’s why our approach has to be week-to-week for us. It’s such a long season, how can you not approach it any other way? How can you look ahead even a couple of weeks? I mean, in 2019 we had three different starting quarterbacks. The CFL is crazy like that.”
The transient nature of CFL rosters nowadays – especially with the prevalence of one-year contracts – makes it difficult to keep championship teams together. The last two CFL teams to have a shot at three-peating – the Alouettes of a dozen years ago and the Argos in the late 90s – didn’t even win a playoff game in their third year.
Here’s a brief look at what unfolded for those squads:
Toronto Argonauts: 1996-97 Grey Cup Champions
What happened in 1998
Finished 9-9, third in the East, after dropping five of their last six-regular season games; lost to Montreal 41-28 in East Semi-Final.
Why they didn’t 3-peat:
The Argos had 9 CFL All-Stars in 1997 and six were gone before the 1998 season opened:
- QB Doug Flutie, the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player, signed with the Buffalo Bills
- OL Mike Kiselak, the CFL’s Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman, signed with the Dallas Cowboys
- K Mike Vanderjagt signed with the Indianapolis Colts
- DL Rob Waldrop retired
- DB Johnnie Harris played in the Arena League in 1998 and later signed with the New York Giants
- RB Robert Drummond signed with the B.C. Lions
Montreal Alouettes: 2009-10 Grey Cup Champions
What happened in 2011
Finished 10-8, second in East, lost to Hamilton in East Semi-Final
Why they didn’t 3-peat:
The Alouettes had been experiencing a steady decline, going from 15-3 in 2009 to 12-6 in 2010 to 10-8 in 2011. And in ’11 they also lost their last three regular season games to finish second in the East to Winnipeg.
Their first playoff game, played in front of 33,000 at Olympic Stadium, was a 52-44 overtime loss to Hamilton on an afternoon in which they generated 605 yards of offence – including 513 through the air by Anthony Calvillo – and still lost.
The Blue Bombers then knocked off the Ticats 19-3 in the East Final before falling to the B.C. Lions 34-23 in the Grey Cup.
Worth noting here is only five teams in the history of the Grey Cup have won three in a row or more: the University of Toronto Varsity Blues (1909-11), Queen’s University (1921-24), Toronto Argonauts (1945-1947), Edmonton Eskimos (1954-1956) and Edmonton Eskimos (1978-82). The 1963 Blue Bombers had a chance to three-peat after winning in 1961-62 but lost four of their last five games that season to finish 7-9 and miss the playoffs.
The 1960 squad also had a shot after Grey Cup wins in 1958 and 1959 and looked poised to do so after a 14-2 regular season. But star quarterback Ken Ploen broke his hand in the first of a best-of-three West Final – a 22-15 victory – and the club scored only seven points in the next two, both losses. That’s also another massive factor in why it’s so hard to go back-to-back, let alone three-peat, in any league.
“Football is hard, man,” said Collaros. “The (New England) Patriots and what they were able to accomplish in the NFL are a bit of an outlier over the last few decades, after what the Steelers and 49ers were able to do with their championships. But aside from that you’ve got a bunch of teams taking their turns winning the Super Bowl.
“Everybody asks me about great teams I’ve been on – we were a great team last season – but like it’s been said before, so much of this comes down to a handful of plays in each game. We didn’t have a ton of those last year, but in a normal season it’s those six or seven plays that make a difference.”
All of this isn’t to suggest the Blue Bombers don’t think they can, or will, chase a third title and become part of a select few franchises that have done so. They have a ton of familiar faces in their lineup at key positions and remain oddsmakers’ favourites to take another run at glory. In short, there are enough of the returnees – plus a group of hungry new faces – who have already found their ‘edge.’
“Some people took pay cuts to be here again,” said Wolitarsky. “You see the same core keep coming back because we want to play here because we’re friends, we’re family. It’s the work environment. For me, personally, I love to be here and a lot of the success of this group is who the leaders are on this team and what we play for. We’re loyal to those who are loyal.”
