M.Silverback

Key point being below .500 in 5 seasons. What pro coach in any sport survives that? It’s not an overreaction based on one or two seasons, it’s a trend. Nice guy or not, stubborn or not, poor coordinators or not, that’s not succeeding.

Agree with everything, possible exception Harris being brittle. He takes a lot of punishment. Too much. Defences go off on him because really he’s all you have to scheme against. He’s likely hurt every game but still plays at a high level. They need other legitimate weapons

I think you're right, he's definitely injured. And, he doesn't have a talent level of an Aaron Rodgers who can still be great at 70% physical capacity. This is where the HC has to step up. At what point do you stop letting an injured player go out there and not help the team or himself? At some point you may have to shut him down. Enough with the "he's tough, or wants to play through it" nonsense. If we find out end of season Nichols goes in for ACL or MCL surgery, I'd be super pissed if I were Nichols and my coach let me poop the bed all year playing on a bad peg.

A QB facing Sam Hurl ... really made me laugh. Thanks for that. Interesting question about why rookie QB's seem to start more in the NFL than the CFL. There's other things to consider as well. One - most rookie NFL QB's who start are high draft picks. There's a hype and selling to the fan base aspect that just doesn't exist when you bring in some UDFA to the CFL as a QB. I think NFL teams draft them to be the face of the franchise, and jump on that train quickly. CFL rookie QB's come in as unknowns with zero hype. Related to that, I think NFL teams who do that are more apt to live through the bad games that they know are going to happen with a rookie. If Sam Darnold is your guy, you basically tell the fan base to be patient. Hope he turns into a top tier QB. Third thing is coaching. The QB coaches and OC's are just better than their CFL counterparts at prepping a rookie QB I'd guess.

Exactly. Not to flog the deadest horse on this forum, but, that’s the argument to start Streveler. He’s not Mike Reilly, but, as a defensive coordinator or player, there’s some fear. You lose containment, he can burn you with a run. He gets into the secondary, he can out run, or run over a DB. Teams are salivating to play Nichols now

I've pretty much been a Streveler fanboy, but, if you're going to try to salvage Nichols season (career?) and justify the $400K salary, I think you have to start him against the team with the worst record in the league (notice I didn't say worst team), and see if he can get back on track. A win; 270 yards, 2 TD's, 1 pick - sadly, that would be a "good" day for him this year. If he wins, definitely a very short leash the rest of the season for him. And tell him that Strevelation will be coming in the second he even hints at an underhand pick 6. If he loses, craps the bed, I'd suggest he start looking into coaching opportunities in US colleges.

Totally agree that Nichols is the biggest problem. But, we have, and have had, other problems this year, and in past years. O'Shea seems like a good guy that players love. But, I'm just not sure what rationale you can have as a GM to retain a coach for 5 seasons who has a sub 500 record, never won a playoff game, and the team is regressing. We're getting worse overall as a team. How is the coaching staff given a free pass on that? How can you sell that to the fan base? Potential season ticket buyers?

For sure, firing coaches is a risk. You can target replacements, but as you say, they have to want to come. That said, most assistants want to become head coaches at some point. Steinhauer seems like one who would want to, and I'm not sure June Jones is stepping aside any time soon. The other thing is sometimes you just have to take a risk and make a change when things aren't working, or you're becoming stagnant. The Toronto Raptors just did that, fired a very good coach, because they were stagnant. May work out or not, but, at least they're avoiding the definition of insanity thing - stick with the same, hope for different results. We're reaching that point with the O'Shea coaching era.

I’d also be good with Orlando Steinhauer

Philosophically I agree that consistency in an organization is a better way to go. Organizations that constantly change regimes typically flounder. But, I also think you have to earn that right with success. If the San Antonio Spurs have a losing record this year, Pop and Buford have earned some time to fix it because they’ve succeeded big time in the past. A sub 500 record and no playoff wins in 5 seasons (which in CFL years is like 10), earns you nothing. And I think it only buys Walters one more after O’Shea with a new coach

O’Shea’s 5 year record is 40 - 44. Realistically the Bombers will be lucky to win 3 of the last 6. I don’t think a five year record of 43 - 47 with no playoff wins is good enough to keep your job. Whether players love you or not. The personnel here is flawed but our roster isn’t as bad as our record (exception being 2018 Nichols, who I feel for, but man he is crapping the bed). He and his staff will be fired. Walters already has a double secret list of coaches he’s considering

You’re right. And it’s also on the coaching staff to help coach him out of this funk. Nichols has never been BLM or Reilly, but he’s shown he’s be an average CFL starter. Now he’s in Willy-meltdown zone. Feel for him, but it’s pro sports.

True. And I agree Loffler has not been the player we once knew. I love Bighill, but my expectations for him are difference maker, big play maker every single game. He’s that talented. He’s not an A gap filler like Hurl.

Hey, I know we’re officially only allowed on this board to criticize Nichols, O’Shea, Hall or Lapo ... but, anyone else think Bighill should maybe be making more big plays? Eguavoen was an absolute beast for SK. Just wondering

Wolitarsky Petermann Streveler - for showing some fire

No question every pro coach knows way more about football than any of us on this board. For real. But, it’s about comparing our coaches to the other CFL coaches. And right now, they’re being out coached by basically every other coach. I can’t stand Chris Jones, but man, he and his staff have them playing well

That underhand pick six is honestly something from a bad high school QB

Good shape! We dropped 4 straight and don’t look like we’re trending in the right direction on any facet of the game. He’s Grampa Simpson level looney now

The guy who caught our TD pass, and hung on to the ball after getting lit up by a horrendous hit? Yes, it’s his fault 🙄

Gotta give credit to the SK defence though. Really isn’t any team in the CFL playing at their level right now

I don’t think you can bring him back unless we go on an unbeaten streak. We’re regressing

Streveler looked better than Nichols. And with a game plan tailored to his skills he’d do much better. But, he didn’t do enough to convince stubborn Coach O’Shea to start him next game I bet. Back to the QB who gives us “the best chance to win”🙄

I’m torn on Barker. Has had CFL success. But also the guy who traded an all star DB and the first overall pick (yes, I know Faith was a bust, but it’s a high value pick nonetheless), for Drew Willy. I’m in the Walters has done enough to retain his job camp.

I like this idea even better. Start Streveler. Save face for Nichols and the organization by saying that Nichols is a bit banged up, had a re-aggravation of his previous injury, want to give him time to recover ... blah, blah, blah. Which is probably all true. If Streveler lights it up, deal with who will be the starter for next game after the bye week.

Completely agree, that's what should happen. What will happen is O'Shea will stick with Nichols, unless he's so injured he can't play. And, I bet we sneak off a win in the Banjo Bowl - maybe a pick 6, punt return TD, Medlock kicks 6 FG's - and the fan base gets lulled back to sleep thinking - "we're back in it". Ultimately, I think the story has been written for this season if we stick with the status quo - sneak in playoffs, one game bye-bye. If nothing changes, nothing changes. I also see an end of season media day where O'Shea praises Nichols for his toughness playing through injury, and that he may need surgery. So the question then - is an injured Nichols (knee - everyone in the league knows), better than a stud athlete with potential Streveler at QB? O'Shea's answer will be "he gave us our best chance to win".