Upon Further Review | Elks 35 Blue Bombers 27

And so it comes down to this: by losing Friday night to the Edmonton Elks and following victories by the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Calgary Stampeders on Saturday, the Blue Bombers will now need a victory next Friday in Vancouver against the B.C. Lions to qualify for the playoffs for a 10th straight season.

A loss, on the other hand, would mean the club is not part of the Grey Cup playoff derby for the first time since 2015 and would finish last in the West Division for the first time since 2014.

Both the Riders and Stamps are two points up on the Blue Bombers, 8-9 after Friday's loss. Saskatchewan improved to 9-8 following their win over Montreal Saturday afternoon while Calgary finished 9-9 with their victory over the Lions and have a bye in the final week of the regular season.

A Winnipeg win next weekend, coupled with winning the season series with the Stamps 2-1, would give the Blue Bombers the tiebreaker and get them into the playoffs at 9-9. A win and a loss by the Roughriders in their final game against Edmonton would mean Winnipeg finishes third -- they have a points differential tiebreaker with the Riders after splitting their two games this year -- and would play the Lions in the West Semifinal.

Should both the Blue Bombers and Roughriders win next week, Winnipeg would finish fourth in the West and crossover to face the Toronto Argonauts in the East Division Semifinal.

"We're making it so much harder on ourselves," said running back Brady Oliveira inside a despondent Blue Bombers locker room after Friday's loss. "It's definitely frustrating because I love this group. I love my guys. We're not playing consistent enough, but I do truly believe we have the guys in this locker room to go where we want to go.

"But, unfortunately, there's just one week left, and we've got to play consistent week in, week out. It can't just be one week and then the next we s--t the bed. We've got to play consistent football every week to get where we're not. No one is saying we can't do that, but we're running out of time.

"We've got nothing to lose, man. It's do or die. We've got to go out there, do our best and just keep swinging. We have to do it for one another. I'm going to go out there and battle my ass off for them and I know they'll do the same for me. So, bring it. Let's go."

Added receiver Nic Demski: "That's how we have to spin it now -- it's must-win next week. You can't really worry about getting help from another team. We've got to focus on the task at hand and take care of business on our own terms next week.

"What's happening with us this season gets tiring for everybody. We've got to figure it out. That's the bottom line."

ICYMI, the link to our Game Recap is here.

And what follows is the rest is this week's edition of UPON FURTHER REVIEW...

THREE NUMBERS WHICH JUMPED OUT AFTER A SECOND GLANCE AT THE STATS SHEET:

1. The Blue Bombers surrendered 212 yards rushing Friday night, the second-highest total of the season to the horrific 377 they gave up in the loss to B.C. in late July-- a franchise record.

Winnipeg was trailing 28-24 with just under seven minutes remaining when the Elks took over the game at the line of scrimmage, piecing together a 13-play TD drive that covered 95 yards and took five minutes and 24 seconds off the clock. Get this 71 of the 95 yards on that drive came along the ground with Justin Rankin rushing 10 times for 69 yards and Cody Fajardo plunging in from two yards.

Edmonton had 101 yards rushing in the fourth quarter alone.

Winnipeg entered the game ranking eighth in rushing yards allowed at 117.9 (Ottawa was at 130.4) and has now had nine games this year surrendering 100 yards or more.

"We've got to get better. We've got to get back to work and just fix it," said veteran defensive back Evan Holm. "How can we play better? How can we put it together as a team? How can we get off the field more in tough situations?

"Every game against the Elks has gone that way. Fourth quarter... can't get off the field. This one was a little bit different score wise but it's the same story. It's a mirror of three games, in my opinion."

2. Football can be cruel sometimes. Zach Collaros authored one of his finest games of the season in completing 85 percent of his passes -- 28-of-33 -- for 331 yards and TD strikes to Nic Demski and Pokey Wilson.

Yet, his two glaring mistakes, both interceptions, were killers with the first leading to an Elks TD in the first half and the second -- with Winnipeg trailing 28-24 with seven minutes left -- then led to the long, drawn-out TD drive we referenced above.

Collaros took all the blame afterward. And asked if he could explain the inconsistencies with the team all season, added:

"You really can't put your finger on any of it. Again, it starts with me. I can't put us in bad positions. So, that's how I kind of look at it.

"Luckily, we're still in it. We control our own destiny so we can win a game and get in. That's how we always have to approach it. We have to get better tomorrow watching this tape and move on to B.C."

3. Some milestone things to pass along:

• Both Oliveira and Tim White played in their 100th career games Friday night. Oliveira was limited to 37 yards on just nine carries and still leads the CFL with 1,344 yards -- the third highest total of his career after the 1,534 he had in 2023 and 1,353 in 2024. White, meanwhile, went over 1,000-yard receiving for the fifth straight year -- the longest active streak in the CFL.

  "It's tough. We didn't play all four quarters to the standard that we needed to and when we needed to count on each other, we didn't show up for each other in the big moments we needed each other. It definitely hurts," White said afterward. As for the five straight 1K season accomplishment: "No 1 is, did we get the win? That's the No. 1 stat," he said. "It sucks, because everything gets thrown out the window without that."

• Demski has now scored TDs in consecutive game and has 48 as a Blue Bomber, tying him with Joe Poplawski for eighth place on the franchise all-time list. Ahead of him: Milt Stegall (147), Charles Roberts (79), Leo Lewis (75), Gerry James (63), James Murphy (62), Ernie Pitts (55), Willard Reaves (53) and Rick House (49).

• The two TD passes by Collaros give him 141 as a Blue Bomber and moved him past Khari Jones for second most in franchise history, behind only Dieter Brock (187).

AND FINALLY... for those of you who are still following along, thanks for reading. If you want to see a condensed recap of win, check it out here: