The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are looking for answers about what went wrong after failing to reach the Gray Cup for the first time since 2018. When asked if there was anything he wanted to do differently this year, head coach Mike O'Shea said he should have been more involved in one particular phase of the game.
“I think I could be a better support system on offense. I'm not going to make up plays, but I think I could play them better and help him out a little bit more,” he told media in Winnipeg on Monday.
“Will I be in more meetings? … During training camp, when you're short-staffed, do we find a guy to come in and help? Throughout the season, I look back and go through all sorts of things: 'I probably could have responded differently.'
Jason Hogan was promoted from running backs coach to offensive coordinator in January after a search that was hardly exhaustive. The young coach received rave reviews from Brady Oliveira – the star runner thanked Hogan no less than three times in his acceptance speech in Vancouver last year – and had a reputation as an exceptionally hard worker.
Critics questioned why the veteran team would choose such a young offensive coordinator even though Jarius Jackson was named quarterbacks coach after serving as interim head coach of the Edmonton Elks. Unfortunately for the Blue Bombers, The bench veteran was unable to report to Winnipeg before the start of the regular season due to personal reasons.leaving Hogan without mentorship for the entire training camp.
Soon after he was hired, Hogan noted that he wanted his scheme to be simple, but at the same time include exotic games and stunts.. This was music to the ears of many fans in Winnipeg, who felt the offense had become stale during Buck Pierce's tenure, finishing seventh in scoring, sixth in net yards and fifth in yards per game in 2024.
The results under Hogan this year were slightly better compared to the rest of the league, with the offense finishing sixth in scoring, fifth in net yards and fifth in yards per game. However, the raw numbers tell a different story: Winnipeg is down from last year in net yards, yards per game and sacks allowed.
The biggest problem came in the passing category, as Winnipeg averaged just 235.0 yards per game, the fewest in the CFL. At the end of the year, the franchise defender became available to the media Zach Collaros says the 2025 offense didn't play “good football”which left him feeling frustrated and disappointed. He claimed that during training camp the team repeated plays that were never called during the regular season and suggested that the offense never mastered any concepts they could rely on when the game was on the line.
“That's how he feels, and you have to respect that – Zach is very smart, one of the best defenders to ever play in our league, so I'd like to talk to him about that. I think there were some things that happened in training camp that made it a little more challenging, that's for sure. We were really missing a staff member for training camp, and that would have been another extra voice and another set of eyes that we were counting on, but we just couldn't get here,” O'Shea said.
“I wouldn't have become a head coach if I hadn't looked into (Collaros' problems), but it's a much longer study… I think all the players know when they say things like that, that I was the one who cleaned up the mess. I also think there was some disappointment in their own level of play – they wanted things to be better and things weren't quite what they wanted or what they expected.”
One of the issues that bothered Hogan was messaging. In August, he threw Chris Streveler under the bus. after the dual-threat passer intercepted the ball in the red zone, which was clearly not the Bomber's style. O'Shea was Winnipeg's head coach for eleven seasons and never criticized individual players in the media. Hogan did this within the first few months.
It's unclear whether Hogan or any of Winnipeg's assistant coaches are under contract for next season – when asked, O'Shea said he couldn't remember – but it seems unlikely given that O'Shea himself is currently without an extension. When asked if Hogan had shown enough strength to return as the team's offensive coordinator next year, O'Shea responded positively but wanted to go into more detail about how things went down in 2025.
“He's one of the hardest working guys you'll ever be around, so yeah, he certainly deserves the opportunity to talk about it and come back – but again, it takes more study, more conversations and some confidence.”
As for criticism from fans who are concerned about the team's decline, O'Shea appreciates their enthusiasm and concern.
“They are absolutely entitled to their opinion. I think if they were in (the team quarters) every day, they would be less concerned. If they looked at the fight from the start of the third quarter (in the Eastern semi-finals), they would be less concerned,” O'Shea said.
“They know the guys have it, they take a lot of pride in themselves and put a lot into their work. They don't think about putting out a good product, they think about playing really well, and I think the fans understand that the guys play hard. Mistakes happen, but they play hard all the time.”
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers finished fourth in the West Division standings in 2025 with a 10–8 record, qualifying for the playoffs as a crossover team before losing in the East semi-finals to the Montreal Alouettes. Collaros threw for 3,048 yards, 17 touchdowns and 16 interceptions in 13 regular-season games while going 6-7 as a starter.
The Blue Bombers ranked fifth in net offense, third in net defense and eighth with a minus-eleven turnover margin. The club's leading rusher was Brady Oliveira with 1,163 yards, the leading receiver was Nick Demski with 1,001 yards, and the leading tackler was Tony Jones with 104 tackles. Winnipeg ranked first in attendance with an average attendance of 32,343, up 3.7 per cent from the previous year.
