End of an era?

Bombers want to write at least one more post-season chapter with veteran core

DINO MIGHT

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are inching towards the end of an era.

There’s no guarantee their veteran core — names like Zach Collaros, Stanley Bryant, Patrick Neufeld and Willie Jefferson — will be back next year, or even if they’ll want to continue playing.

They’re all in their mid-to-late 30s, or in Bryant’s case, 40, and in the final year of their contracts. If the Bombers can’t save their season, significant changes could be coming, and getting younger would likely be part of the plan.

That adds another layer of importance to Friday’s regular-season finale in Vancouver. The Bombers (8-9) need to beat the B.C. Lions (10-7) to make the playoffs and write at least one more chapter with this group.

“It’d be good to keep this thing going for certain guys like that. Let’s go give us an opportunity to go compete at a Grey Cup this year,” said running back Brady Oliveira after Wednesday’s closed practice.

“The roster is always different every single year. But, obviously, there’s guys that you can’t even put into words how important they’ve been to this organization, and it’s for guys like that you just want to win one more with and celebrate with. That’s what creeps into my mind.”

No one has announced that this will be their final season. And according to Jefferson, the subject of next year’s plans doesn’t come up often.

“That’s not one of the questions that I ask. I don’t want to ask those type of questions to guys that are older,” said Jefferson.

“When I get asked those questions during the season, it’s like, ‘Why? It’s not something I was thinking about, it’s not something that I want to think about ... With me being a veteran, being in this league as long as I have, I’ve learned that’s one of the questions that guys don’t want to think about during the season — especially when things are not going as well as you expect them to go.’”

Never mind talking about the future, Neufeld said it’s difficult to even find time to think about it amid the daily grind of professional football.

“It’s a tough one because you’re so focused on this, especially where we’re at in the season,” said Neufeld.

“You don’t really have the capacity to think about anything other than this B.C. game. We’ve been treating this like a playoff game this week and it’s too much emotion to think about anything other than trying to find a way to win this game.”

Bryant has been asked about retirement for years. He has managed to keep Father Time at bay, but as the league’s third-oldest player, it’s difficult to envision the CFL’s most decorated offensive lineman playing much longer.

“You don’t want things to end because football is one of those things you feel like you could do forever,” said Bryant.

“So, you just try to stay locked in week to week and think of the best scenario in your head and that’s making it to the Grey Cup and winning it. And then you can make a decision after that.”

Whether this core group breaks up after this week, next week, next month, or further down the line, its members know how fortunate they’ve been to play together for as long as they have.

Neufeld, 37, recently suited up in his 200th CFL game. Eighty per cent of those appearances have come alongside Bryant on the offensive line, while Collaros has started at quarterback for nearly half of them.

The Bombers’ core is an anomaly in a league where rosters turn over on an annual basis. Few groups of teammates have stayed together as long or enjoyed as many winning seasons, highlighted by two Grey Cup wins and five appearances in the final between 2019 and 2024.

“It’s been an incredible environment to be in every day and to create bonds that will last way beyond being in this building,” said Neufeld.

END OF AN ERA, CONTINUED ON D1 “These are guys who I consider family, who my kids call uncle. That’s way more important than wins and losses, those relationships and those bonds that have been made sweating, bleeding, getting hurt together and celebrating enormous wins together has been extremely special.”

No one is in denial. Everyone knows the clock is ticking.

The retirements of Adam Bighill, Jake Thomas and Chris Streveler in the off-season were another reminder that change is inevitable.

“It’s a business. Those ideas, those thoughts creep into your mind, but you take a deep breath and you look at what’s around you,” said Jefferson.

“Things don’t last forever and you never know. But the thing is, we’re still in the season and have a good amount of football to play if we handle our business this week.”

Neufeld admits he has thought about how this era of Bombers football will be remembered.

“Hopefully well. You see how people remember those teams from the ’80s and we’ve had a tremendous amount of success here and had a really great run with those five Grey Cups and going to the playoffs every year since 2016,” said Neufeld.

“We’ve had a lot of really, really great players, Hall of Fame players, Bomber Hall of Fame players. And I hope people understand that and know we do this for our fans. Blue Bomber fans have given us so much and we want to make them proud and hopefully people can appreciate that. They can look back at some point and be like, ‘Hey, that was a great team. Remember that guy? Remember this play? I think that’d be very special.’”

So would one final run, especially when they would expect it given how inconsistent this season has been.

“We know what we got to do,” said Bryant. “We know we can do it, we just got to do it and put it all together.”