Must be vindicating for Bo – leading his team to a necessary win while the guy who replaced him in Calgary fails to get it done yet again and sees the bench by the end.
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If you check, you’ll find teams that have surpassed the 4 Cups in a row. The Edmonton Eskimos went to the Cup 6 times in a row between 1977-82, and they won 5 of those. And if you exclude 1976, the Eskimos went to the Cup 9 times between 1973-82, and they won 6 of those!
In my view, they should be considered the greatest CFL team of all time.
Also, my Tiger Cats went to 5 Grey Cups in a row in 1961-65. They won 2 and lost 3.
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I am aware of that and the Bombers had some nice runs as well back in the day.
I have posted on this before. The bottom line is that you can’t compare them to now, although I wasn’t specifically thinking of that when I posted, just that there are many teams that have won more than one in a row.
The main problem with the comparison is the salary cap. Pre salary cap teams could realistically keep any player they wanted. We have all seen the Bombers lose many good players because of the cap. The 5 in a row Edmonton team didn’t have that major problem to contend with.
There is also now free agency after the initial rookie contract, something those teams of the past didn’t need to worry about.
Another factor is that for decades the CFL could compete with the NFL for the best players, which has been a pipe dream for a while now.
We have also seen the effect of the salary cap in leagues such as the NHL. The closest thing to a dynasty in the salary cap era was the Black Hawks with 3 Cups in 5 years. Look what the cap did to their roster. Among other players it forced them to give away a young Dustin Byflugien to Atlanta. Tampa won 2 in a row and went to 3 in a row but couldn’t afford to keep franchise icon Stamkos this year because of the cap, which would never have happened pre cap. No NHL team today can compete with pre cap NHL dynasties like the Habs and Islanders and the CFL is no different.
My point is there is no way you can compare today’s world to the past. The best example of a dynasty in the cap era is the current Bombers having gone to the Cup 4 years in a row and won two. That might compare to say 7 in a row in the 50’s or even 80’s. Who’s to say? The Bombers would have a much stronger team today if not for the cap and may have won all 4 appearances. The cap forced them to let Castillo go one year and his replacement Liegghio cost them the game. It also forced them to let Dru Brown and Janarion Grant go after last year.
The Bombers may be the most obvious example, but there are others and there will be more. I said at the start of the season that if Montreal won again they wouldn’t be able to keep all of the players they would like to for next year, maybe even if they didn’t win again. They already look like they stand to lose Alexander in a Dru Brown type of scenario, assuming they choose to keep Fajardo over him. BC is likely to lose Adams for the same reason. Back in the day these would have been non issues. Edmonton could never have kept both Wilkinson and Moon for very long, for example.
As a result of the rules in force today and the cap, matching a past dynasty will be next to impossible. The definition of dynasty has shifted, although I can’t tell you exactly what it is, but 4 GC games in a row surely qualifies. I would bet we won’t see that again in our lifetime. I do know for sure that one in a row doesn’t qualify as a dynasty in any era or make that team the best in CFL history, which was my initial point.
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Might have to do with the fact the three coaches worked together. You get to know preferences and what guys will do in certain situations.
Nothing is a cake walk this year. Too much balance. While losing those two is a loss for sure but I think that there is enough depth to hold off the up and down Argos.
Let’s squash this Als greatest team / dynasty talk right now. We won the Cup in 2023. We’re at the top of the standings in 2024, currently. Plenty of teams have done this kind of thing. If we win another Cup and get back to the championship in subsequent years, then we can talk dynasty. Not until then.
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Point taken. I actually was agreeing with you, but I focused on the ‘best CFL team of all time” comment by the other poster…
Eskimo Dynasty at #1, have to agree.
However, I’d kindly slot in the Bombers from 1957-1962 at #2
'57 they lost the Cup to Jim Trimble’s tough Ti-Cats
'58 they won with Jim Van Pelt & Kenny Ploen at the helm
'59 another win w/ Ploen
'60 prolly their best team but they got stunned in the Western Final when Ploen came down with a broken arm and was forced to finish the game even though his arm was dangling down. Lost the bloody game 4-2 or somesuch but Kenny couldn’t go and they didn’t have anyone else. Maybe the best Bomber team of all-time
'61 - another Grey Cup W
'62 - Ditto
Went into a dead lull in '63 and '64 as some guys got old, others retired, etc.
Came back for one more kick at the Cat (Ti-Cats again) in '65 but lost a back-breaker in heavy winds as the Bombers gave up 3 or 4 2 point rouges and lost by 6. Ed Ulmer couldn’t punt more than 10 yards into the kind of winds coming off the Lake that year. So Bud Grant conceded all those rouges. Kenny Ploen was also near the end of his rope, Leo Lewis was getting banged up, Gerry James was long gone, no real monsters on defense, etc.
And then - 20 more years before Bombers got back into a Grey Cup.
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Nice history Lyle.
Exactly - back to back is common. Three in a row or 4 in 5 seasons…that’s when you start taking dyanasty…
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Only one of the two teams has actual fans, so no, this is not the best rivalry. You need to move to the flatlands for two teams with two great fan bases to get the greatest rivalry.
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Yes. I spoke to a young Bombers fan at the Grey Cup last year. He was in tears. Told him the Cats had been to the Cup 4 times in 10 years and won 0.
Told him the Bombers have been to 4 in a row, and won 2. They are a great team.
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