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Bombers can clinch first place in CFL West for first time since 1972 but nobody wants to talk about it

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Each day this week, members of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were asked what it would mean to them to clinch first place in the West Division with a win on Saturday night against the B.C. Lions.

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At one point, the question was posed to quarterback Zach Collaros and he gave the following straight-faced answer:

“Osh has been talking about it all week.”

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The collective response from the chuckling media was “Yeah, right.”

Collaros was, of course, referring to Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea, who would rather have screws drilled into his skull than talk about clinching something before a game is played.

The last thing O’Shea would want his players to do is focus on the standings, on what might happen if they win, on a West Final that might be played on Dec. 5 at IG Field.

And the players seem to be right on the same page with him.

“It’s important to win every game that you’re a part of and treat them all the same,” Collaros said Friday after the Bombers held their final walk-through at IG Field.

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“We try not to look too far ahead. We’ve got a great challenge in front of us this week and that’s what we’re focused on.”

The Bombers are 9-1 and have already clinched a playoff spot. One more win, or any losses by the 5-4 Saskatchewan Roughriders and 5-5 Calgary Stampeders, and the Bombers will clinch first place.

It would be the first time the Bombers have finished first in the West Division since 1972. Yes, it was 49 years ago that Winnipeg last hosted the West Final.

To be fair, they were in the East Division for many years and finished first there six times, but it’s been a long time since they had this kind of success in the West during the regular season.

But, on a Mike O’Shea-coached team, those bits of history would simply serve as a distraction to the current job, which is to win a football game this week.

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“What I really like is if they believe it,” O’Shea said, when told of what the players have been saying all week. “I do believe that. I do think that they are very focused at the task at hand. If you continue to focus on what’s right in front of you, then all the other stuff either takes care of itself or it doesn’t. I do believe they are, and have been for the majority of the season, very focused on what’s right in front of them.”

The Bombers still have three games remaining on their schedule after the B.C. game. If they do win this week, it might present an opportunity to rest players down the stretch, to get a look at backup quarterback Sean McGuire, and to sit back while the rest of the division battles it out for second place.

But nobody wants to take a foot off the gas pedal with so much time left before the playoffs and Grey Cup, so it’s not likely there will be a big first-place party, even if the heavily favoured Bombers take care of the Lions (6 p.m., IG Field).

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“We don’t typically do early celebrations,” defensive end Willie Jefferson said Friday. “We want to keep the momentum up but you celebrate a win and then you get ready for the next game. We don’t want to top off before the season is even over.”

Earlier in the week, running back Brady Oliveira allowed himself to think out loud about what it would mean to play in a division final, in his home town, with family and friends around, on Dec. 5.

But by Friday, he was talking like everyone else in Blue and Gold.

“I really haven’t thought about it at all this week,” said Oliveira, who will start at running back in place of the injured Andrew Harris (knee). “I’m really the type of guy that just takes everything day-by-day and I think everyone in this locker room does the same thing.

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“With all the goals that we have, if you want to be successful, you should want to win your Division and be at the top of the West, so if we go out there and do our job, we’ll be happy at the end of it.”

The Bombers are on a seven-game winning streak, are 5-0 at home this year and have won 16 of their last 17 games at IG Field.

That sounds daunting for a Lions team that is 4-5, has lost three straight games, and got pummelled 30-9 the last time the two teams met, on Oct. 1 in Vancouver.

The Lions are in a desperate position, currently sitting outside the playoff picture but still with plenty of opportunity to get back in it.

“I could not care any less about what their record is or what their playoff situation is,” Lions quarterback Michael Reilly said. “That has no bearing on us. They obviously have had a very good season up to this point.

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“The only thing that it means, the fact that they can do whatever with first place, means right now they’re the best team in the league and that just tells me nothing that I didn’t already know.”

Make no mistake, as little as the Bombers want to talk about clinching first place, they’d be in a tremendous position if they can pull it off.

Jefferson allowed himself to think about that “What if” for a moment.

“Especially in a division as tough as the West, for you to get that spot sealed and know what you’re gonna be doing in the playoffs, that’s a good feeling, especially knowing you have a couple tough games ahead,” he said.

“It will feel good to have that spot clinched.”

Twyman@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/Ted_Wyman

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