Winnipeg Blue Bombers Hot Favorites for the 2023 Grey Cup

The 2023 Canadian Football League (CFL) season is right around the corner, with the opening fixture pitching the British Columbia Lions against the Calgary Stampeders on June 8. Both of those teams should be there or thereabouts once the excitement of the playoffs begins, but it is last season’s Grey Cup runners-up, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, that are the clear favorites to top the CFL standings before going on to clinch the Grey Cup for what would the 13th time in the Blue Bombers’ history.

 

While the best NHL betting sites online have hockey’s Winnipeg Jets as considerable underdogs to progress in their playoff game against the Vegas Golden Knights, those same sites have the Winnipeg Blue Bombers as the team to beat during the 2023 CFL season. It is easy to see why everyone fancies the Blue Bombers to bulldoze their way to glory because the team is that good.

 

Blue Bombers Were Incredible at Times in 2022

The Blue Bombers went 9-0 at the start of the 2022 regular season and looked unstoppable at times. The Montreal Alouettes caused an upset at the IG Field when they snook to a 20-17 overtime victory on Game 10. Only the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and BC Lions turned the Blue Bombers over by Game 18, resulting in an awe-inspiring 15-3 regular season record.

 

BC Lions took on the Blue Bombers in the West Final and proved no match for the preseason favorites. The game ended 28-20 in favour of the Blue Bombers, and the victors never looked like they would come out second-best.

 

The Toronto Argonauts awaited the Blue Bombers in the 109th edition of the Grey Cup. All eyes were on the Blue Bombers with them looking for the three-peat, an achievement no other CFL team had managed since the then Edmonton Eskimos won five in a row between 1978-82. The Argonauts spoiled the Blue Bombers’ party, running out 24-23 winners in a fiercely-fought encounter at the Mosaic Stadium, home of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

 

Why The Blue Bombers Will Prevail in 2023

The offseason is stressful for football fans because they never 100% know which of their team’s players will be back in action for the following campaign. Thankfully, for Blue Bombers supporters, the star-studded roster is essentially unchanged from the previous season, with key players retained and more strength added.

 

Veteran quarterback Zach Collaros will look to build on an incredible season that saw him win the CFL Most Outstanding Player award for the second year running. Collaros threw the most touchdown passes (37) in the league, while his 116.2 quarterback passer rating was the fourth-best in CFL history. Collaros completed 70% of his 436 passes for a career-best 4,183 regular season yards.

 

CFL All-Star wide receiver Kenny Lawler has rejoined the Blue Bombers after a season with the Edmonton Elks. Lawler started his CFL career with the Blue Bombers in 2019 and led the league in receiving yards in 2021 before becoming the highest-paid receiver in the league when he put pen to paper with the Elks. Injuries cut short his playing time last season, and he returned to the Blue Bombers on the first day of free agency on February 14.

 

Equally as important as scoring points is preventing the opposition from doing the same. This is why keeping hold of the likes of defensive back Winston Rose and defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat was a masterstroke by head coach Mike O’Shea and his backroom staff. Both Rose and Jeffcoat played prominent roles in the Blue Bombers defence in 2022, which finished top of the charts in terms of yards allow.