WINNIPEG — Enough heartbreakers! The Saskatchewan Roughriders need a streak-breaker.
The Roughriders’ winless string reached seven games (0-6-1) due to Saturday’s 26-21 CFL loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Princess Auto Stadium.
The outcome was very much in doubt until a Winnipeg interception settled matters with 34 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter.
Saskatchewan’s previous four games had been decided on the final play.
Only once have the Roughriders been outscored by 12 points over a span of five CFL games without winning on at least one occasion.
The last few weeks have produced an unwanted precedent-setter in franchise history.
“It’s tough,” Head Coach Corey Mace lamented at Princess Auto Stadium.
“I think earlier in the whole deal, it was a little bit encouraging, just saying, ‘Hey, we’re still kind of playing good football with really good teams.’ But now it’s kind of getting old.
“It’s just the same narrative. At the end of the day, we’ve got to find a way to turn the L’s into W’s.
“I want this so bad for these guys. Everybody works their tails off. I think they deserve better, but we’ve got to earn that. We can’t just say we deserve it.”
At this point, what is there to say?
The string of close losses was a head-shaker before Saturday.
Add another one to the list and it defies explanation, not to mention belief.
“It’s frustrating, the little run we’re on — the bad run we’re on,” quarterback Trevor Harris said.
“It’s just a matter of whenever we can break that, I know it’ll be a waterfall of great things happening.
“It’s just frustrating, because this was a winnable game. Last week was a winnable game.”
Harris was referencing a 35-33 loss to the visiting Blue Bombers in the 59th Labour Day Classic.
Before that, the Roughriders tied the host Ottawa REDBLACKS 22-22 (Aug. 8), lost 27-24 at home to the Montreal Alouettes (Aug. 16) and fell just short in a 20-19 nailbiter on the road against the Toronto Argonauts (Aug. 22).
All of that took place after the Roughriders sported slates of 4-0-0 and 5-1-0.
“I know we have the right guys leading us and we have the right guys in the room,” Harris said.
“It gets tiring saying the same things every week, with the close losses. It’s getting frustrating saying it out loud, let alone probably hearing it.
“It’s just one of those things where we’ve just got to look in the mirror and take this bye week and find a way to get better and make sure that we’re putting ourselves in better situations.”
The Roughriders are now idle until Sept. 20, when they will oppose the host Calgary Stampeders.
The objective is to say “bye!” to a winless streak after a bye week that, according to Harris, should be used for self-scouting and reflection.
“Guys will not be around one another, so it will be a good time to look in the mirror and maybe look back on the last four or five games of our own and see some things we can be doing better,” he said. “Maybe it will give us a little bit of a refresh button.
“It’s a bad taste in our mouth right now. Winnable game today, but you just get tired of saying that. I get tired of saying that to you guys (in the media) every week — that it’s a winnable game and that we’re there, we’re close.
“I’m sick of saying it. We just need to win games.”
The ingredients, depleted as they are in some areas, are in place.
The Roughriders did not allow a sack on Saturday even though the offensive line has been riddled with injuries.
Winnipeg’s Brady Oliveira, one of the league’s elite running backs, was held to 43 yards on 11 carries. He has not reached 50 yards in any of the three games against Saskatchewan this season.
In seven games with the 2024 Roughriders, Harris has thrown 15 touchdown passes. He is tied for third in the league in that category despite missing six games due to a knee injury.
The Roughriders’ resiliency is also something to appreciate.
They refused to buckle after Winnipeg assumed an early 10-0 lead. There could have been a feeling of déjà vu, or even resignation, after four consecutive lopsided losses in the Labour Day Classic.
Not on Saturday.
The Roughriders responded to the early double-digit deficit by going on a 17-3 run.
“It’s not new hat for us,” Harris noted. “We know that we’re always going to be in a game and we’re going to find a way to scrap and claw and be back in the game if that does happen.
“But putting ourselves behind the 8-ball like that is not ideal. We need to make sure that we start fast and put our foot on the accelerator, as opposed to trying to play catch-up.”
Now the Roughriders are playing catch-up in the West Division.
Winnipeg and the B.C. Lions are tied for first place at 7-6-0. The Roughriders (5-7-1) are next in line, one point ahead of the resurgent Edmonton Elks (5-8-0).
With a play, a break or a bounce here and there, Saskatchewan would sit atop the West Division and everyone else would be in pursuit. But the down-to-the-wire defeats persist.
“We still can’t find a way quite yet to get over the hump, but the bond is strong in the room,” Mace said. “The guys, I still think, believe that they can still get the job done.
“We’re still in that part of the season where if we come out of the bye week, we start piecing it together and we get hot, we can go ahead and try to push ourselves into the playoffs, feeling a little bit different than we do right now.”
