Look, there are going to be a lot of different takes on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers pre-season loss. And there is likely merit to all of them. While the pre-season does not count towards standings, it is far from a meaningless game.
So to lead into that, we should look at some stats.
Brady Lidster did not look solid. Even one of the kicks he made looked bad. But honestly, for me, this is the least of my concerns. Sure, in 2019 the Bombers were in tough at kicker and had a hard time finding a replacement. But in 2025 the Saskatchewan Rough Riders won the Grey Cup with kicking problems of their own that season.
Stats can tell all kinds of stories, so it needs to be determined which stats are actually important in this game.
For me, it is the other elements of the Bombers' offence that is not encouraging.
Passing & Rushing
Passing
I want to start with the passing. After Wilson left the Bombers it was clear that their locker-room was going to be Collaros, Perkins, and Elgersma...with debate amongst who the number two quarterback would be. Before the game I wrote, Why I Expect The Bombers' Offence To Be Better In 2026. I still expect that to be true. However, the Bombers have some work to do with their number two and tree quarterbacks.
While their completion percentage was not great, the Bombers were still in the game late into the fourth quarter. What killed the Bombers were their interceptions. With Elgersma throwing two interceptions and Perkins throwing one of his own, you are not going to win many CFL games with 3 interceptions. Let alone when these interceptions took place. Sure, Saskatchewan's quarterbacks also threw three interceptions, but they also threw for 290 yards vs Winnipeg's (approximately) 150 yards.
You can say the the receivers dropped some balls, and that is fair, but the Bomber quarterbacks' also had some really bad throws. What will be challenging for the Bombers is that outside of the next game, neither Perkins nor Elgersma is likely to get much playing time before the Bombers would need them to step up.
Rushing
We know what Oliveira can do rushing, so toss his numbers aside. What we saw from Elgersma, and maybe more so Perkins, is that they can take off and run the ball if needed. Once (and I say once not if) they get their passing game together, that will be a nice combination of skillsets. While Chris-Ike had a nice average, I did not like that he only had three touches. Patterson got a few more touches, but out of their 5 leading rushers...three of them were quarterbacks. That is not a recipe for success.
Defence
For me, this might be the most intriguing group after the first pre-season game. The Bombers have been known to roster a heavy defensive group so that they can continue to sub players in and out - keeping the group fresh in a game. With that mentality, it was nice to see players who are not typically starters making some plays. It was also great to see players like Holm, looking like they are in mid-season form. In fact, the Bomber put up 2 pick-6's.
And still the Bombers lost. So the offensive issues will be what I am looking to see improved upon for the Bombers' second pre-season game. It will be interesting to see which of the Bombers' backups gets most of the reps this Friday.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments section wherever you are reading this. Catch all my articles here.