It was supposed to be a measuring stick game, the Blue Bombers against the CFL-leading Montreal Alouettes, here, last night.
Nobody said anything about the Alouettes taking the stick and beating the stuffing out of the home team.
This was ugly. Nearly as ugly as anything we've seen this season. And, geez, that's saying something.
So much for making this a tough place for teams to visit. Only thing tough about the 39-12 Alouettes' victory was watching it.
The 25,000-plus loyalists who turned out didn't see any sign of progress. If the planet progressed like this, the earth would still be flat.
Erratic
Oh, quarterback Michael Bishop at least manages to throw the ball downfield in this second incarnation of head coach Mike Kelly's offence.
But Bishop, as we've known for years, is as erratic as the Winnipeg weather. Last night was not one of his good nights.
But this what you get when you sign up with Michael Bishop.
The passing numbers -- 155 yards last night -- continue to be remarkably Stefan LeFors-like, which leads to the conclusion that maybe it doesn't have much to do with the quarterback.
That's three weeks of training camp and seven weeks of regular-season action. Shouldn't this "attack" be producing by now?
Four different quarterbacks have tried running it, with similar results.
The world's best driver needs a car. This thing's a Winnipeg winter beater, and maybe it's time to park it. For good. Pull the wires out, drain the tank and call Dr. Hook.
Bishop's arm and athleticism produces the odd play, but there's nothing sustained. No bread-and-butter play.
And when a good defence like Montreal's shuts down the running game, look out.
That's two straight home games without an offensive touchdown, folks. Say that again, slowly.
This, in the Canadian Football League, where teams that know what they're doing put up 30, 35 points, now and again.
Dumping veteran Kelly Bates was supposed to improve the O-line, Kelly said. It didn't.
While the Bombers front, with Bates, blew Calgary off the line in the second half a week ago, it couldn't open anything for running back Fred Reid last night.
Of course, the Bombers came out throwing more than running, even when it was obvious the bad Bishop had shown up -- a puzzling approach, given last week's monstrous success along the ground.
Of course, we've come to expect bad offence.
What was really surprising was how soft the Winnipeg defence played in the opening 30 minutes.
Montreal receivers were wide open far too often, and we saw more missed tackles on one play -- a 71-yard pass play from Anthony Calvillo to Kerry Watkins in the second quarter -- than we usually see in an entire game.
We're not going to dump on the dirty dozen, though. They've done more than their share of heavy lifting through seven games.
They never quit last night, putting a lousy first half behind them to stay in the Als' grills right to the final gun.
Picked off two Anthony Calvillo passes, too, even turned in a goal-line stand early in the fourth quarter, when it was dreadfully apparent they weren't going to be bailed out by the other side of the ball.
Occasionally, your defence is going to have an off night. On those days, your offence has to be capable of getting into a shootout.
This one isn't.
The Bombers keep bringing a butter knife to a gun fight. It's a miracle they're even 2-5.
Their longest play last night: 27 yards.
Punter Mike Renaud nearly got that on one run.
This is the CFL's offensive lightweight, by a mile, alone in its weight class, making even the Toronto Argonauts look formidable.
It doesn't measure up.
By extension, neither does the man behind it.
