There was a time when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers won a lot more games than they lost at home.

Blue Bombers team’s coached by Bud Grant, Cal Murphy and Dave Ritchie dominated at Winnipeg Stadium.

Visiting teams knew they were in tough.

When the Blue & Gold moved to Investors Group Field in 2013, home field advantage suddenly turned into no advantage at all.

The Bombers recorded a grand total of 11 wins in 36 games over four years at their new home.

But home field advantage appears to be an advantage in 2017.

Mike O’Shea’s team is enjoying a five-game winning streak at Investors Group Field.

Winnipeg is 5-1 at home after defeating the Grey Cup champion Ottawa Redblacks 29-9 on a rain drenched Friday night.

“I wish I could pinpoint what that was or why it’s changed,” said coach O’Shea when asked why this years team has accomplished what other Bombers teams haven’t been able to do in the previous four years and turn the tide on their home turf. “I’ve always said, and I think even when we first started, I believe our players respect the fan base here. They know they’ve got a great group of fans that show up.”

“The conditions were not great and when the fans needed to be loud, they were loud. I don’t know what the numbers were in terms of attendance or anything like that but they still rallied when they had to rally. For the ones that stuck it out and stuck around, I think it’s unbelievable because it really wasn’t nice out there. Very impressive from the fans to stay and cheer as loud, as hard as they did throughout the entire game. Our players do appreciate it a lot, Why this year compared to other years – I don’t know. I can’t answer that. We’ve got a good football team and I think all along they’ve always respected the fans.”

Winnipeg's only loss at Investors Group Field this season was a 29-10 setback to the West Division leading Calgary Stampeders in the home opener.

On Friday night quarterback Matt Nichols was impressive completing 23-of-34 passes for 319 yards and two second half touchdowns under what at times were monsoon like conditions.

“You just got to focus on your fundamentals and make sure you have a good grip in the ball,” Nichols said. “Especially in the second half, It was pretty wet and if you lost any concentration the ball was kind of squirting out. Overall I just felt like we did a good job as an offense handling it.”

Timothy Flanders and Darvin Adams caught those touchdown passes from Nichols.

Adams had seven catches for 195 yards and said the team was ready for their first game back after the bye week as well as the weather conditions they dealt with.

“It just shows that our coaches are doing a great job of keeping us prepared for every situation that comes in front of us. Our leaders did a great job of keeping us focused and playing football.”

Andrew Harris had a 24-yard touchdown run with two minutes left in the first half.

That major came just three plays after defensive lineman Jackson Jeffcoat stripped the football from Redblacks running back William Powell and recovered it on the Ottawa 36.

Powell did get Ottawa’s lone touchdown on an 11-yard run with five minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Winnipeg recorded 27 first downs and 521 yards of net offense against a very good Redblacks defense.

The Blue Bombers improved to 9-3 and will face the Edmonton Eskimos on Saturday, September 30th at Commonwealth Stadium.


photos courtesy Merle Peters