So the Bombers are finished for another year. Sad yes but I was certain that they wouldn't be in this position when the year started. Yeah they had some good players but they never seemed to get their act together. 

Well, they made me eat crow and I honestly could not be happier of that. Yeah it would have been great to go further but I thought we were just a few pieces short to do so. Surprisingly I was okay with that because this team showed me they are for real and it has been a very long, long time since I have gone into the off-season very optimistic that they ARE a few pieces away. Not even 2011 left me with that feeling.

So I could whine and ***** about today but I would much rather enjoy the huge steps forward this team took. That has been a hard thing to obtain for the Bombers. I can easily wait a bit more because there is now light at the end of the tunnel when I thought we hadn't even entered it yet.

Thanks to all the 2016 Bombers you brought a lot pride and honour back to this franchise and community.

1 hour ago, B-F-F-C said:

7.  Jim Bender.  This guys an ass clown.      

FYP

1 hour ago, B-F-F-C said:

 

How can Walters keep this team together?  There will be a few raises required this off season.   It's going to take a sharp pencil. 

I would say the goal is to never keep an entire team together, you pick your core pieces and keep them together and rely on your recruiting to support them. 

31 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

I would say the goal is to never keep an entire team together, you pick your core pieces and keep them together and rely on your recruiting to support them. 

The Chicago Blackhawks Method

It frosts me that, while we really had a low percentage chance of beating Calgary, we had BC by the short hairs and let them go through brain cramps.

Thanks everyone for all the great posts. Glad to hear so much optimism.

11 hours ago, pigseye said:

The Bombers will consider this season a success and rightly so. The real test of success however will come next year and whether or not they can maintain and/or improve upon it.

yup - just keep adding more parts and better players.  2001 was a great season but we needed 1999 and 2000 first.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed with the outcome of the Western semi, that said there are definitely some bright spots from this year to building on.

1. Beat the Riders at home for the first time in forever.

2. O-line - Flat out won games for us and were able to protect Nichols and help grind the clock with Harris to put games away late.

3. Free agent signings in the off-season that actually panned out (Harris, Medlock and Dressler - personally I think the jury's still out on Smith).

4. The Drew Willy trade - the 1st rounder will be hugely helpful. Also, glad to see Glenn back as a bomber. Interesting side note for all the Glenn-haters - Glenn didn't throw any interceptions as a Bomber this year (He also only had 4 pass attempts).

5. Medlock breaking the single-season record for most field goals.

6. I know O'Shea will be critiqued for some of his calls, but I've got to say I can't remember the last time the Bombers had a special teams unit that was advantageous overall against opposing teams. Between the good kick coverage, Medlock's fantastic year, and some interesting trick plays, opposing teams are thinking twice on 3rd down. If there's one area we could improve on, I would argue it's our return game...

7. The thing I find most impressive about the best record in 13 years is that the Blue and Gold managed to achieve it whilst competing this year in the hyper-competitive western division. Consider that of our 7 losses, only 1 of them came against what ended up being a non-playoff team (Montreal - Week 1) and 3 of them were against Calgary.

8. Playoffs - say what you will about that game but this year was definitely a step forward in that we made it to the post-season.

As always it's another "maybe next year" feeling, which kind of sucks, but at the same time, it's nice to have something to look forward to.

It you're not incredibly optimistic about next year, then you haven't been paying attention... 

2 hours ago, Eternal optimist said:

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed with the outcome of the Western semi, that said there are definitely some bright spots from this year to building on.

1. Beat the Riders at home for the first time in forever.

2. O-line - Flat out won games for us and were able to protect Nichols and help grind the clock with Harris to put games away late.

3. Free agent signings in the off-season that actually panned out (Harris, Medlock and Dressler - personally I think the jury's still out on Smith).

4. The Drew Willy trade - the 1st rounder will be hugely helpful. Also, glad to see Glenn back as a bomber. Interesting side note for all the Glenn-haters - Glenn didn't throw any interceptions as a Bomber this year (He also only had 4 pass attempts).

5. Medlock breaking the single-season record for most field goals.

6. I know O'Shea will be critiqued for some of his calls, but I've got to say I can't remember the last time the Bombers had a special teams unit that was advantageous overall against opposing teams. Between the good kick coverage, Medlock's fantastic year, and some interesting trick plays, opposing teams are thinking twice on 3rd down. If there's one area we could improve on, I would argue it's our return game...

7. The thing I find most impressive about the best record in 13 years is that the Blue and Gold managed to achieve it whilst competing this year in the hyper-competitive western division. Consider that of our 7 losses, only 1 of them came against what ended up being a non-playoff team (Montreal - Week 1) and 3 of them were against Calgary.

8. Playoffs - say what you will about that game but this year was definitely a step forward in that we made it to the post-season.

As always it's another "maybe next year" feeling, which kind of sucks, but at the same time, it's nice to have something to look forward to.

I agree with most your points, but I'd like to point out a couple things

1. We beat the riders last year in regina in week 1, it's the LDC we broke the curse of.

5. Glad we got such a clutch kicker, but the only knock on breaking the record is our O was faltering a little too much, unable to finish drives, capitalize often enough. That needs to improve in 2017

i'd also add a 9. sweeping the home and home with the riders and lions, division rivals no less was pretty huge and showed a lot of the teams character winning close hard fought games

1 hour ago, Taynted_Fayth said:

I agree with most your points, but I'd like to point out a couple things

1. We beat the riders last year in regina in week 1, it's the LDC we broke the curse of.

5. Glad we got such a clutch kicker, but the only knock on breaking the record is our O was faltering a little too much, unable to finish drives, capitalize often enough. That needs to improve in 2017

i'd also add a 9. sweeping the home and home with the riders and lions, division rivals no less was pretty huge and showed a lot of the teams character winning close hard fought games

touche

On ‎11‎/‎14‎/‎2016 at 7:08 AM, Mike said:

Heaven forbid I suggest we cut ties with Wild around these parts.

I'm a big Ian Wild guy, but his "heart and soul" doesn't make up for the fact that he whiffed second level tackles in the back half of this season like he had contract incentives for doing so. I don't know if it was injury and maybe it was, but I have no doubt that Burnett outplayed Wild down the stretch.

I believe Wild's play was injury related. He'll come back next year & hopefully stay healthy & will have a much better season. Wild's a very good player.

My final thoughts and what I would like to see from 2016:

A fix for CFL reviews
An end, to end the DEnd search we've been on
A true MLB
Edmonton to lose, because, well, they're Edmonton, and because Reilly insists on wearing that stupid hat...in a pre-game presser..in football...
I guess Calgary should win it all because they've done the best...but,
....I'm rooting for BC
A new DC or a distinct improved vision of how to better use the players we have.
New careers for Wiecek, Bender, Friesen and Wazney - constant potshots on the Bombers is getting old and unimaginative.
A slicing of overpaid utility players or some cutbacks to suit their roles...
...with subsequent renewals to the up-and-comers...
A step-up receiver, and I don't care if he's an import or a National.
Loffler - to have a hitting clinic for tackling..
A don't break but don't break defence.
Lost in all the hoopla about 'that call' was the great play of the opposing QB -Jonathan Jennings. BC doesn't come close to winning without his above par efforts...

QB situation - I'd like Nichols to return, but what I'd really like is another blindside signing ala James Franklin. 
Hervey may be more inclined to deal with us rather than Jones..so lose Edmonton, lose.
The WFC is getting together to access the QB situation, including Bethel-Thompson whom we took a peek at earlier. 
Fine. Let's get this settled in regards to Bennett, Davis, Glenn, Nichols etc.

And finally,
O'Shea to shave his beard next year, to better see his smirk.