Blue Bombers oust Roughriders to reach 5th straight Grey Cup

The West still runs through Winnipeg.

The Blue Bombers are heading back to the Grey Cup for a fifth straight season after beating the Saskatchewan Roughriders 38-22 in the West Division final at Princess Auto Stadium.

It's the Bombers' record 29th appearance in the Grey Cup game and 18th of the CFL's modern era (since 1958). They'll face the East Division champion Toronto Argonauts in next Sunday's 111th Grey Cup game at BC Place in a rematch of the classic 2022 contest that was won by the Boatmen.

After starting the season 0-4, the Blue Bombers clawed back into contention and continued their West Division dynasty that dates back to the last pre-pandemic season. They're the fourth team in the CFL's modern era to reach five straight Grey Cup games, joining the 1961-65 Hamilton Tiger-Cats and 1977-1982 Edmonton Eskimos. The Regina Roughriders, as they were then known, played in five straight Grey Cups during the pre-CFL era from 1928-1932.

Saturday's contest was all Bombers from the jump. Zach Collaros had a masterful game, throwing for 301 yards and four touchdowns, while West MOP finalist Brady Oliveira rushed for 119 yards and one score. Wideout Kenny Lawler hauled in 177 receiving yards on just four catches, three of which were touchdowns.

Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris threw for 283 yards and one touchdown in the loss.

Saskatchewan looked to be mounting a comeback early in the third quarter when A.J. Ouellette punched one in shortly after a successful fake punt extended the drive. But Collaros threw his third TD pass to Lawler a few minutes later to open the Winnipeg lead back up.

Any last hopes for the Roughriders were extinguished early in the fourth quarter. Down 15 points at their own 24-yard line, head coach Corey Mace elected to go for it on third down, but his offense came up short. Winnipeg immediately turned that short field into an Oliveira score that iced the game.

Winnipeg's defense also effectively eliminated Saskatchewan's ground game, holding the 'Riders to just 77 rushing yards.

The Blue Bombers will now attempt to flip the script and bring the Grey Cup back to Winnipeg after two straight heartbreaking losses in the title game. They started this run by beating Hamilton twice for back-to-back titles in 2019 and '21 but fell short in last-second thrillers against the Argos in 2022 and Montreal last year.

Next week's game will be the eighth Grey Cup matchup between the Bombers and Argos but just the second since 1950. The teams have met in the CFL playoffs 16 times, including several matchups when Winnipeg played in the East.