CFL Soundtrack: Are the Bombers currently a reconstruction site, or will Winnipeg really be One Great City! this year?

Our CFL Soundtrack series, a preview of each of the CFL's nine teams and what musical acts they compare to, has reached the West Division. Here's a look at the division's newest member, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and how they relate to The Weakerthans.

Plenty of Canadian musical talent comes from Winnipeg, including Neil Young, the Guess Who, Bachman and Turner (already featured in this series), Crash Test Dummies, Imaginary Cities and many more. The Weakerthans seem like the perfect analogue for the Bombers at this point, though, as much of their music's about blasting the way things have been done in Winnipeg; that sounds about right for a franchise that axed its GM and president in August last year and fired its coach after its 3-15 season ended. It's a pity "One Great City!" didn't include anything about the Bombers, but "The Guess Who sucked, the Jets were lousy anyway" could be extended to the city's CFL team, and there certainly would be plenty of their fans willing to scream "I hate Winnipeg!" last year:

Reconstruction Site, the band's 2003 album that features "One Great City!", ends with some (relatively) more optimistic notes, though, and that also seems apropos for the current Bombers, who look like a reconstruction site of their own. Yes, last year was awful, and 2012's 6-12 campaign wasn't much better; the (relative) glory days of 2011's surprising first-place finish and run to the Grey Cup game seem a long way off now. General manager Kyle Walters has been doing impressive work so far, though, making hard calls such as trading quarterback Buck Pierce last year and seeing what they had in Max Hall. Hall turned out to not be much good to them, and he's since been released, but that was a future-focused move that still helped the team, persuading Walters to go out and get a quarterback externally this offseason. He didn't get his first or second choices (Zach Collaros or Henry Burris), but still landed a potential star in Drew Willy. Walters has also made over the team's roster, saying "Everything must go," and raising the question of who had left and who was leaving:

There were plenty of additions as well as subtractions, though. Walters has been solidifying the team's Canadian content (a huge problem under predecessor Joe Mack) with draft additions like SFU OL Matthias Goossen, McGill LB Jesse Briggs and SFU DB Derek Jones and free-agent signings like kicker Lirim Hajrullahu and receiver Julian Feoli-Gudino. He's added some nice internationals, too, including receiver Nick Moore and linebacker Ejiro Kuale. There are lots of reasons to like this Winnipeg lineup, at least on paper.

However, rebuilding can be a long process, and the Bombers aren't necessarily going to triumph this year. Part of the reason why not may be their new divisional alignment; three of the other four West teams made the playoffs last year and even Edmonton should be improved, and while the East features good teams in Toronto and Hamilton, Montreal's still not quite together following Anthony Calvillo's retirement and expansion team Ottawa should be relatively easy pickings. Having less games against them and more against the West's crop won't boost the Bombers' record. Relocation to the West makes sense from a business standpoint, as it's easier to market extra games against say, Saskatchewan, but it seems unfortunate from a football one. You can picture Walters and the football staff asking, "Small request, could we please turn around?"

They also have an unknown quantity in new head coach Mike O'Shea. While O'Shea has impressed as a special-teams coordinator with the Argonauts in the past, he's a rare head coaching hire who hasn't worked as an offensive or defensive coordinator before. The thought from this corner is that he's likely to be a good head coach in the long run, but there may be some growing pains. Even if he was perfect, though, and even if this roster all came through, it would still be hard to think of a force in the division weaker than the Bombers' feeble strength:

Prediction: 6-12, fifth in division, out of playoffs.

Stay tuned to 55-Yard Line for more team previews, plus our league-wide preview chat Thursday at noon Eastern!