VANCOUVER — It’s been an up-and-down season for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. And it’s a season that will continue after the team once again weathered adversity to beat the B.C. Lions 34-10 on Friday. The victory saw the Bombers (9-9) clinch a spot in the CFL playoffs for the 10th-straight season. The Calgary Stampeders (9-9) were officially eliminated from the post-season race. “We’ve kind of had just an adverse year, a lot of kind of ups and downs. And I think that that’s a good thing,” said Winnipeg quarterback Dru Brown. “I know that our fans of the team probably get frustrated about it, but ultimately, you have to ask yourself hard questions when you’re kind of up and down, and you really have to try and problem solve and find solutions. So we’re hoping that we can take all those lessons into the playoffs.” Brown started Friday night’s contest on the sidelines and was called into action when Zach Collaros went down with an injury. Collaros connected on nine of his 20 passes for 105 yards and an interception before being sidelined late in the third quarter after Lions defensive lineman Nathan Cherry hit him. Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea did not have an update on the 38-year-old American QB after the game. Brown stepped in and went 11-for-11 with 185 passing yards and two touchdowns. “Dru, he’s just so calm, right?” O’Shea said of the performance. “He just understands that he’s going to walk in there, he’s going to operate the offence, and then if we make plays, then that’s great. If they make plays, then that’s part of it. But he is going to operate really well in a very calm manner.” The Lions (10-8) came into Friday’s contest having already clinched a post-season berth and the right to host the West Division semifinal on Oct. 31. Neither side will learn who they’ll face in the first game of the playoffs until Saturday, after the Edmonton Elks (13-4) visit the Saskatchewan Roughriders (9-8). A Riders win would see Saskatchewan take on B.C. in the West semifinal, while Winnipeg would cross over to face the Toronto Argonauts in the East semifinal. A Riders loss would set up a rematch between B.C. and Winnipeg in the West contest, while Saskatchewan would head to Toronto to play in the East. O’Shea said he won’t be cheering for either side on Saturday. “I cheer for good football,” he said. “I want everybody to play well. Whatever the score ends up, the score ends up. But you want everybody to play well because carrying a mistake around with you for an off-season is tough for any player.” B.C. drew a crowd of 30,833 on Friday, despite playing without many of its usual starters, including No. 1 quarterback Nathan Rourke and marquee receivers Keon Hatcher Sr. and Justin McInnis. “We knew some guys were going to get a lot of work, and deservingly so. And we were going to have some guys that are going to get healthy this week and be ready to go next week,” said Lions head coach Buck Pierce. “I think overall, just right now, the original feeling is we feel pretty good, and I think we got a lot of information on some guys that you know really stepped up for us tonight.” Kaidon Salter started under centre for the Lions and went 12-for-21 with 177 passing yards, including one TD and one interception. Chris Oladokun took over in the fourth quarter and tallied 48 passing yards with one interception. The Lions started off strong with Salter sailing a 36-yard toss to Nate DeMontagnac in the end zone two minutes into the game. Sean Whyte made the one-point covert and B.C. took an early 7-0 lead. Both sides struggled with uncharacteristically sloppy plays and turnovers through the first half. Winnipeg finally got on the scoreboard with just over two minutes left in the second quarter when Sergio Castillo booted a 40-yard field goal, cutting B.C.’s lead to 7-3. Sean Whyte responded by sending a 48-yard kick through the uprights with 16 seconds left on the clock, and Castillo missed a 54-yard attempt as time expired, leaving the Lions up 10-3 heading into the locker rooms. No one in Winnipeg’s locker room liked the way the game was going offensively at halftime, O’Shea said. “Sometimes the grind is really good … It’s good football,” he said. “We need to play better football. You just keep hoping that this is going to be the spark, the grind, that this is necessary, and flip this into something good.” Collaros was sidelined late in the third on a hit from Cherry. The Bombers’ QB lay on the ground for several minutes, getting looked at by trainers for what appeared to be a head or neck injury before walking to the medical tent on the sideline. Cherry was called for roughing the passer. Brown took over at quarterback and sailed a long pass to Dorian Singer, putting the Bombers at the B.C. 29-yard line. The duo connected again minutes later with Brown tossing Singer a 30-yard pass in the end zone for Winnipeg’s first major of the night. Castillo made the one-point convert to level the score at 10-10. The Blue Bombers took an early fourth-quarter lead when star running back Brady Oliveira slipped through the Lions’ defence and ran all the way up the field for a 63-yard TD. Castillo’s convert gave the visitors a 17-10 advantage. Oladokun, a former backup for Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, came in for B.C. in the final frame, making his CFL debut. Williams picked off the two-time Super Bowl winner’s attempt to DeMontagnac early in the quarter. The Bombers boosted their cushion midway through the fourth when Brown connected with Demski at the back of the end zone for another major. Castillo added to the tally with a 15-yard field goal before Oliveira closed out the game with a four-yard rushing TD, his second of the night. The Canadian running back finished the night with 149 rushing yards on 15 carries. Oladokun and the Lions came within inches of chalking up one last score when he connected with Emani Bailey deep in Bombers’ territory, only to see the running back brought down less than a yard before the goal line as time expired. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2026. Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press
