Emotions high for players, fans after Blue Bombers lose 2nd straight Grey Cup game

Call it the stunner in Steeltown. 

The mood in the dressing room after the Blue Bombers watched their second consecutive Grey Cup slip away in the final seconds of Sunday's game was sombre. Winnipeg fell 28-24 to the Montreal Alouettes in the 110th edition of the Canadian Football League championship.

"I think I was so emotional just because this is the last time I'm going to be together with this group," Bombers running back Brady Oliveira said. "I've talked all year how special it was. I mean, I truly think it's a lot more special than it was last year.

"I think that's why I was so emotional.… It's not going to be the same going to work next year, because I know it's not going to be the same guys in this locker room. I really wanted to win it for the guys that haven't got a chance to experience it."

It was the Bombers' fourth consecutive appearance in the big game. They won it all in 2019 and defended the title in 2021 (the 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic) but have now come up short twice in a row.

Quarterback Zach Collaros said losing in back-to-back Grey Cups will eventually be used as motivation, but it will sting for the time being. 

"We're all professionals in there — people that will use it to fuel them — but for now it's hard, it hurts. We're just all upset," he said, wiping tears. "There's just a lot of good guys in the locker room, guys that might not be able to play again. You want to win for them and for the guys who couldn't be out there."

Asked what went wrong, Collaros talked about turnovers and the inability to convert on second downs.

"I don't want to take anything away from Montreal. They played better and they deserved to win," he said.

Bombers offensive lineman Jermarcus (Yoshi) Hardrick struggled to find the words to sum up the ache, but said there is some comfort in going 14-4 in the regular season and finishing at the top of the CFL's West Division.

"Probably gotta let this calm down a little more but definitely gonna look back [and] it wasn't a horrible season. We was the runner-up. Nobody wants to be second, but it's better than being third and ninth," he said. "If you want to look at it that way, you can find a positive."

Montreal didn't bring anything unexpected — it was just one of those games where the plays worked in their favour, and it happened to be the biggest game of the year, Hardrick said.

"Respect to them, they're Grey Cup champions. For my family, the guys I love, I didn't see it going this way," he said.

Defensive end Willie Jefferson echoed that.

"We take pride in the things that we did this season. It's just that this is not the end result that we wanted. We worked hard to beat a good B.C. team in the Western final and come here to the Grey Cup and play a good Montreal team," he said.

"We just couldn't do the things we needed to do. We had opportunities to get off the field on defence, we had opportunities to put the ball in the end zone on offence. We just came up on the other end of it."

Back in Winnipeg, many fans were feeling that pain, too. 

Ben Friesen, who watched the game from the King's Head Pub, had his face painted in Bombers colours and planned to go to Portage and Main to celebrate an expected Winnipeg victory.

"It hurts, it stings, but you know what, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers — we had a competitive team the last four years. We went to the Grey Cup. As a fan, that's all we can ask for," he said.

"Good for Montreal. They outplayed us, unfortunately. It is what it is, man. I'm just hurt right now."

Family brought together by football

Lifelong Bombers fan Doreen Geary watched the game on TV from her room at Winnipeg's Victoria Hospital, where she has battled health issues.

She felt close to the team this season because IG Field can be seen from her window. Geary followed their success while staying cozy in a Bombers blanket.

Despite the team's loss on Sunday, the experience was a win for Geary and her family.

Her son, John, came to Winnipeg from P.E.I. over a month ago, unsure of how much time he'd have left to spend with her.

But things have since turned around and Geary watched the big game alongside her loved ones — John and his siblings.

"It was good to see her in the highs and lows. She was very humble," John said. "It was a nail-biter toward the end [and] she had an exaggerated sad face like a majority of Winnipeggers, as I'm sure."

He said it was a special night that he and his siblings won't soon forget. 

"Moments are precious and at 94, you never know when the last time is," he said. "The three kids relished that."