Bomber great Murphy to be inducted into Ring of Honour

Cal Murphy was immortalized with a statue outside of the home of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers back in 2017 and, next month, his name will be displayed inside the stadium next to fellow franchise greats.

The Bombers announced Thursday that the late Murphy is this year’s inductee into the team’s Ring of Honour. The longtime head coach and general manager, who died in 2012 at the age of 79, will be officially inducted on July 30 when the Bombers host the B.C. Lions.

“Cal was such an important part of the Blue Bombers for his many years with the club as a coach, a GM and a steadfast voice for Canadian football,” said Winnipeg Football Club president and CEO Wade Miller in a statement. “Strong-willed and passionate in his beliefs, he had his hand on the rudder during one of the most successful eras of Blue Bombers football.

“On behalf of the Winnipeg Football Club, I’m thrilled to see his name join the other icons in franchise history in the Ring of Honour.”

Bombers lick wounds after Ticats tear apart paper defence

There was no way the Hamilton Tiger-Cats were going to get embarrassed in Winnipeg again.

Their last trip to the Manitoba capital — on Sept. 27, 2025 — ended in a 40-3 beatdown at the hands of the Blue Bombers.

On Thursday night at Princess Auto Stadium, the Ticats flipped the script, handing the Blue and Gold a 37-27 loss in front of a sold-out crowd.

“I could see it the entire week of practice, I could see it on the travel — things were different, guys were locked in,” said Ticats quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell after the game.

Receiver Nield bags first 100-yard game in Bombers’ loss

Tommy Nield wasn’t in a position to fully embrace the milestone, though that didn’t prevent his teammates from recognizing the significance of the achievement.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers had just lost 37-27 to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in their home opener on Thursday, but Nic Demski was quick to hand out some deserving praise to a fellow receiver.

“Yeah, it’s crazy,” said Demski. “For him to not have a 100-yard game before, I’m a little bit surprised by that. But I think he has a couple more in his future here.”

That’s certainly the expectation after seeing how well that Nieldis fitting into the Blue Bombers offence after signing as a free agent in February.

Bombers’ D torched by Tabbies

Despite the on-and-off downpour, and the fact that he was playing in front of a raucous sold-out crowd on the road, Bo Levi Mitchell looked as comfortable as ever against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Thursday night.

It was a vintage performance by the future Canadian Football Hall-of-Famer, with Mitchell and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats torching the home side’s leaky defence en route to a 37-27 victory at Princess Auto Stadium.

“When you have a quarterback like Bo Levi back there, they’re going to make plays. But as a defence, we weren’t as sharp as we wanted to be,” said Bombers linebacker Tony Jones.

“There were some critical plays that we want back that as a defence where we didn’t operate at our highest level.

Streveler checks in on old team, broadcasting career, lookalike contest

Chris Streveler didn’t foresee himself as a folk hero.

“When I put the coat on I never thought it would take on this life of its own,” said Steveler, who was back in Winnipeg ahead of the Blue Bombers home opener against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. “There’s Halloween costumes. I’m sure there will be other people with it on. I’m gonna go put it on right now after this. It’s just become this whole character.

“But I think it’s good for the game.”

While he did judge a Chris Streveler lookalike contest before the game, he will be known for more than his fashion choices now that he’s retired from football at 31.

Blue Bombers geared up to play in front of their fans in home opener

There’s just something about a home opener in Winnipeg.

Whether you’re a rookie or a grizzled veteran, the first game in front of Blue and Gold diehards is one worth circling on the calendar.

“There was some juice out there today. I had to tell the receivers, ‘Hey, tomorrow is the game,’” said quarterback Zach Collaros after Wednesday’s walk-through.

“It’s a great place to play. I think it’s one thing that almost works against you sometimes as the home team, is the other team’s really juiced up, too, ‘cause it’s hard not to be.

Bombers explosive returner not carrying any extra pressure for repeat performance

You would suspect that Trey Vaval would love to be able to go head over heels again.

With the Winnipeg Blue Bombers welcoming the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to town Thursday for their CFL home opener, the explosive returner was asked if the visit sparked any memories.

“No, not really. It’s a new year, a new game. Everything is different,” said Vaval, last season’s Rookie of the Year and Most Outstanding Special Teams Player. “Everyone keeps talking about last year, but I don’t give a (expletive) about last year. I’m not worried about stats or accolades or the stuff that happened. I want to go to that Grey Cup and get that (expletive) Cup. That’s the only thing we’ve been worried about. Dwelling on the past? No, there’s no time to do that.”

We have a moment for the moment. On Sept. 27, Hamilton’s Marc Legghio booted the ball high into the sunny sky at Princess Auto Stadium. Vaval fielded it at the 13-yard line and quickly found daylight. His vision and speed, combined with several critical blocks, created a lane to burst down the sideline 98 yards to paydirt 11 seconds into the contest.

New Bombers Moxey, White counting down to clash with old club

You don’t have to remind the Hamilton Tiger-Cats what happened the last time they visited Winnipeg.

It was on Sept. 27 when the Blue Bombers had their best showing of the 2025 campaign and smacked the away side 40-3.

“Man, I just remember they put it on us bad,” said Bombers corner Jonathan Moxey, who spent the past two seasons with Hamilton, after Tuesday’s closed practice.

“Every time you looked up at the scoreboard it was like, ‘This is crazy.’”

Jefferson finds time to shine

For the first time in his illustrious career, Willie Jefferson might just be underrated.

It wasn’t that long ago when the Blue Bombers defensive end was viewed as one of the very best players in the three-down loop. Now at 35 and coming off a down year where he had a career-low three sacks, there was a lot of chatter in the off-season about how Jefferson might’ve lost a step or two.

“I heard it. I put it somewhere on that shelf, so when I need a little bit of motivation, I can go get it,” said the six-time CFL all-star after Monday’s practice.

“You can look at the tape from last year. I only had three sacks, but I’m pretty sure I missed a bunch. I was able to get into the backfield, I was able to win on one-on-ones, I was able to beat double teams, I was able to do all this stuff to get to the quarterback and apply pressure — I just wasn’t able to finish like how I wanted to. That’s something I was hard on myself about this off-season.

Bombers outlast Stamps in first test of the season

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers didn’t let the weight of expectations hold them down in Cowtown.

Did they have a flawless showing at McMahon Stadium on Friday night?

Not quite.

But it’s safe to say the Bombers — featuring a much-improved roster after spending big in free agency — passed the first test of the season with flying colours, outlasting the Stampeders 30-28 in a nail-biter that was decided on the final play.

Bombers win wild West shootout

CALGARY — Down one, with one minute left on the clock, in Week 1.

What a way to start the 2026 CFL season for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Despite the challenging predicament, the visitors didn’t stress under the bright lights at McMahon Stadium on Friday night.

Quarterback Zach Collaros fired a 27-yard pass to Ontaria (Pokey) Wilson, followed by 13 yards courtesy of running back Brady Oliveira, before kicker Sergio Castillo drilled a walk-off 38-yard field goal to give Winnipeg a memorable 30-28 victory over the Calgary Stampeders.

Long, hard road for Winnipegger to reach CFL security

CALGARY — Life in the CFL should almost feel like a cakewalk for Zack Williams compared to what he went through to get there.

After a brief stint with the Winnipeg Rifles, the Murdoch MacKay Collegiate product earned a scholarship to play for the Manitoba Bisons in 2015.

The only problem was that Williams was fully committed to football and paid little attention to the “student” part of being a student-athlete.

The promising offensive lineman skipped classes and let his grades slip, leaving the program with no choice but to revoke his scholarship.

Bombers will need vintage Zach back

CALGARY — It’s time to see if the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ off-season investments can return them to glory, or if last year’s shortcomings are something money alone can’t fix.

The Bombers, who retooled and reloaded by being the CFL’s most active club in free agency, open their 2026 campaign with a major test Friday in Cowtown against the Calgary Stampeders in a West Division showdown (8 p.m. CT).

“I think we can be a great team, but it’s going to be up to us,” said defensive tackle Jake Ceresna shortly after landing in Calgary on Thursday. “We gotta put in the effort, put in the work, and we got to execute the game plan and do our jobs.”

It’s a marathon, not a sprint, so no one’s season will be made or broken in Week 1. That said, no teams wants to fall behind early, especially in a year where there appears to be no easy outs in the West. With Winnipeg, Calgary, Saskatchewan, B.C. and Edmonton all having the pieces to be contenders, early-season results become that much more important.

Iowa rookie at the centre of it all for Bombers

Tyler Elsbury sat patiently in his dorm room Saturday afternoon and tried his best to distract himself.

Former Bombers OC earns praise from coaching staff for team first attitude

Imagine landing your dream job, only to be demoted a year later and watch someone else step into the role.

Would you remain with that organization and play nice with your replacement? Most probably wouldn’t.

But that’s what Jason Hogan is doing.

In 2025, he was calling the shots on offence for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. This year, the 40-year-old is back to his original position as running backs coach.