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What do the Blue Bombers do now?

What do the Blue Bombers do now?

It's been a miserable 2016 season so far for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who fell to 1-4 with a 33-18 home loss to Calgary Thursday night. That's despite an offseason that filled many Bomber fans with hope, too, thanks to some big free-agent signings and other roster improvements. The worst part for Winnipeg is that there may not be any clear solutions. This loss illustrated their many issues, but didn't suggest a lot of ways to fix them.

The biggest issue for the Bombers is still the offence, and it didn't show a lot of progress here. Drew Willy completed 23 of his 33 passes on the night (69.7 per cent), but only threw for 234 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. He was eventually pulled for Matt Nichols, who wasn't much better, completing nine of 15 passes (60.0 per cent) for 88 yards, albeit with a touchdown. The ground game was also missing in action again, with Andrew Harris collecting just 28 yards on 10 carries. A 2.8 yards per carry average simply isn't going to cut it in this league.

There's no easy suggestion to turn this offence and this team around, though. Bench Willy? Well, Nichols hasn't proven that he can be any better. He's been a decent backup in both Edmonton and Winnipeg, but hasn't shown a lot beyond that. Fire head coach Mike O'Shea and promote offensive coordinator Paul LaPolice? Well, LaPolice hasn't been able to make this offence work, so why should we assume he can change things for the team overall? Demote Harris? He was one of the team's biggest off-season signings, and he's been good in the receiving game. There are no easy answers here, and no clear solution for the Bombers.

The defence hasn't exactly shone either, and that was evident in this one. Calgary quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell completed 29 of 41 passes for 310 yards, 70.7 per cent, and also notched three touchdowns and one interception. Jerome Messam ran for 65 yards on 13 carries, and Anthony Parker (seven catches for 81 yards and a touchdown), Marquay McDaniel (seven catches for 80 yards and a touchdown), and Bakari Grant (five catches for 64 yards) all had good receiving nights. The Bombers' defence wasn't able to stop the Stamps, and it's had plenty of issues so far this season too.

There will be plenty of soul-searching in Winnipeg at this point, but nothing looks like a particularly great answer. GM Kyle Walters has done some good work in upgrading this team, but their talent does still seem well behind most of their rivals; it's not clear that things will get better if he's fired, though. The same can be said for O'Shea; while his coaching work so far leaves much to be desired, it's not obvious this team would be better if they were run by LaPolice or defensive coordinator Richie Hall. For now, the best option for the Bombers might be hoping that this roster and this coaching staff can figure this out. If they can't, there don't seem to be too many reinforcements on the horizon.