Game Recap | Elks 35 Blue Bombers 27

And, as a result of Friday night's 35-27 loss to the Edmonton Elks in front of 22,492 fans at Commonwealth Stadium, their berth in the playoffs remains very much unresolved.

Now 8-9, the Blue Bombers could still get a postseason invitation if the B.C. Lions knock off the Calgary Stampeders, currently 8-9, on Saturday as they own the tiebreaker with their western rivals. Winnipeg could also advance to the Grey Cup derby with a win in Vancouver next weekend.

That said, they wanted to earn it outright Friday night by posting consecutive wins for the first time since July. Instead, what unfolded against the Elks looked so much like too many other efforts: too many self-inflicted wounds inside another game that provided flashes of brilliance and dark, ugly stretches.

"Not good enough," said head coach Mike O'Shea afterwards. "It seems like it's right there for us and then we're on the wrong end of five or six plays; they make five or six plays.

"Listen, they're a good football team. They're obviously first in the West for a reason and it clinched (first place) for them there. They're a good football team we can certainly play with; we're not finishing on the right side of the scoreboard."

The loss was Winnipeg's third against the Elks this year -- losing 23-18 in June, 22-19 on a walk-off field goal in August and now by eight -- and marked the first time Edmonton had a three-game sweep against the Blue Bombers in a season since 1979.

What's especially frustrating for the Blue Bombers is how this game looked so much like the others against the Elks as the visitors built a 21-10 lead with 54 seconds left in the half, gave up an inexcusable TD before the intermission and were outscored 25-6 in the final 31 minutes.

"We just made mistakes that really kicked ourselves," said veteran guard Pat Neufeld. "We just keep doing things to put us in bad situations and other teams are capitalizing on it.

"We've just got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot. We have flashes where we show really, really great football and then we have flashes of really bad football. We've got to just try to eliminate bad football and get it corrected for B.C."

Asked how frustrating this roller-coaster ride has been through 17 games, Neufeld added.

"Frustration is the most apt word you could use. It's ups and downs, a roller-coaster. You want to have a consistent rise throughout the season, and we've been too much up and down.

"You can look back on it now and play the pity party, but that's not in our DNA. We've got to look to the moment, own that moment and make sure we have a great game plan and a great week of prep going into B.C."

More thoughts on the Blue Bombers ninth loss of the season from our view in the press box here in the Alberta capital... INSTANT TAKEAWAYS:

1. The Blue Bombers finished with 375 yards of net offence -- including 331 through the air -- lost the turnover battle again on two interceptions by Zach Collaros, who posted excellent numbers aside from those two mistakes in completing 28-of-33 for 331 with TD strikes to Nic Demski and Pokey Wilson.

He was lamenting the two picks afterward -- the first with the Blue Bombers scrimmaging from their own nine-yard line and the second coming with 7:12 left in the game at the Elks' 15-yard line and the Blue Bombers trailing 28-24.

"You can't make mistakes. You can't lose the turnover battle, obviously," he said. "When you're backed up you can't throw interceptions and when you're driving to potentially take a lead you can't throw interceptions so those are on me.

"We'll watch the tape tomorrow and correct the plays we need to correct, but you make mistakes that are that magnified, they're going to hurt you."

2. The game wasn't decided until late -- the Blue Bombers got a Sergio Castillo field goal with 52 seconds to cut the lead to eight, but the ensuing short-kick attempt failed -- but in many ways the critical moment came just before halftime.

Winnipeg went up 21-10 with 54 seconds left, but the Elks then got a 65-yard kickoff return from Montrell Washington, with Cody Fajardo then completing three passes -- including a TD strike to Austin Mack on a third-and four -- to steal away momentum.

Edmonton then followed that up with an eight-play 63-yard drive to start the third quarter and go up 24-21 in a game that had looked to be ready for Winnipeg to take command.

3. Just like the game here in late August, the Elks sealed the deal with some smash-mouth football late. Leading 28-24,they put together a 13-play, 95-yard drive that chewed up five minutes and 24 seconds and which was capped by a Cody Fajardo TD run.

That drive featured 11 runs -- Justin Rankin churning out 69 yards on nine carries and with Fajardo completing one pass for eight and then running in from the two.

"We couldn't get off the field defensively at the end of the game and at the start of the third quarter," said defensive back Evan Holm. "Those last couple of drives they could do whatever they wanted and they drained a lot of clock. We just couldn't get off the field.

"It's really, really frustrating. Everybody puts in a lot of work but we're not getting the results we want; we're not getting off the field. It's just frustrating. I don't have a ton to say about it other than that."

The Elks finished with 302 net yards of offence, but just 120 through the air. They did pound the ball along the ground with 212 yards on 33 carries and a gaudy 6.4-yard average.

4. A couple other factors that jump out in a close loss:

• Sergio Castillo finished two-of-four in field goal attempts, with his two misses coming from 57 and 55 yards.

• Winnipeg continues to take too many penalties. The Blue Bombers were nailed for nine infractions totalling 101 yards, while Ednonton was hit for eight for 100.

5. Some notable milestone numbers, even if it gets lost in the result:

• Both receiver Tim White and Brady Oliveira played in their 100th career games.

• White went over the 1,000-yard mark for the fifth consecutive time -- the longest current streak in the CFL -- after pulling in three catches for 61 yards.

• Oliveira rushed nine times for 37 yards and added two catches for 18.

• Collaros moved past Khari Jones into sole possession of second place on the club's all-time passing TD list. He's now behind only Dieter Brock.

The Blue Bombers were trailing by four in the fourth quarter when Collaros, facing pressure, attempted to hit Nic Demski over the middle at the Elks' 15-yard line. Instead, the pass was intercepted by Nick Anderson in a mistake that took a minimum of three points off the board.

212 -- Rushing yards surrendered by the Blue Bombers, many of them late with the offence desperately hoping to get the ball back for a potential rally.

The Blue Bombers will now finish up the regular season in B.C. against the Lions on Friday, October 23rd with a 9 p.m. start.