A first half full of mistakes was too much for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to overcome on Thursday night.
And for the first time since 2017, the Edmonton Elks are 3-o to begin the CFL season.
The Elks dropped the Bombers to 1-2 on the season with a 23-18 win in front of a full house at Princess Auto Stadium, the 16th straight sellout in Winnipeg.
The packed stadium watched the Bombers turn the ball over three times, miss two field goals, and allow more than 250 yards of offence in the game’s first 30 minutes, falling behind 17-0 in the second quarter.
Ball security was a major problem for the Bombers as they fumbled the ball six times in all as Edmonton won in Winnipeg for the first time since 2018.
“We gave the ball away,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea. “And didn’t start on time. We didn’t start the game on time.
“They understand what they’re capable of based on what they did in the second half and they’re not going to look at that and say we should build off the second half. That was really good. They’re gonna look at it from the lens of, if we did that in the first half this is a different story.
“I think they’re going to see the mistakes they made early and they’re not going to be pleased.”
The Bombers had won 11 of their last 12 meetings.
QB Zach Collaros completed 24 of his 33 passes for 290 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Nic Demski was their leading receiver with six catches for 92 yards. But it’s the six fumbles that really stick out.
“First and foremost, you can’t turn the football over,” Collaros said. “You got to execute that play, right. You can’t put yourself in a hole. I think it’s two weeks in a row now, we’ve put ourselves in a hole like that, and that’s on us as an offence.”
Get daily National news
Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you’ll never miss the day’s top stories.
Brady Oliveira finished with 77 yards rushing but also had a costly fumble.
“We made way too many mistakes,” he said. “And then when I think we did turn it on a little bit, it was just too late.
“Come back ready to work and like, look at yourself in the mirror and like, how can you give more to your teammates. Like, do more. Demand more from yourself because your team, the guy next to you, the guy to the right and the left expects that from you.
“I’m pretty rattled about this one.”
The Elks had 262 yards of net offence in the first half, but the Bombers defence flipped a switch after half time. The Bombers held the Elks to six punts and a fumble on their first seven possessions in the second half until the last-minute go-ahead touchdown.
“I think we certainly tackled better,” O’Shea said. “I think we got after it a little differently on the front and filled a little harder. And then they were just out-gapping us and we were getting caught in the wash instead of flowing over the top a few times early.”
On the Elks opening drive, they marched the ball 100 yards down the field and opened the scoring on a Justin Rankin 5-yard touchdown run.
Rankin, the CFL’s leading rusher, had 106 yards on 15 carries.
The Bombers offence moved the ball inside the Elks 20 on the next drive, but Brady Oliveira coughed up the ball, and the fumble was returned 93 yards by the Elks to the Bombers three-yard line. They would settle for a field goal to take a 10-0 lead after the first quarter.
Another lengthy Elks drive early in the second quarter put them inside the Bombers 5, but they turned it over on downs, going for a touchdown on third down. But the Bombers gifted them the ball right back after a Dante Daniels fumble and this time the Elks would punch it in on Cole Snyder’s one-yard touchdown plunge.
The Bombers were able to get on the board seconds before halftime as Zach Collaros found Tim White for a 26-yard major with four seconds left, cutting the lead to 17-7.
And after a nightmare first half, the Bombers defence locked it down for most of the second half.
Bombers kicker Sergio Castillo provided all the points in the third quarter, recording a kickoff single and a 53-yard field goal to cut the Edmonton lead to 17-11 heading into the fourth.
And the Bombers took their first lead of the game with just over eight minutes left to play, as Collaros hit Oliveira for a 14-yard touchdown pass.
But the Elks were finally able to find some offensive momentum, and with 53 seconds left, Cody Fajardo hit T.J. Luther for an eight-yard touchdown to give the Elks the lead for good.
On the injury front, Bombers receiver Ontaria Wilson left the game in the first quarter and did not return. Defensive tackle Jake Ceresna was also forced out with an injury and exited the game in the second half. O’Shea didn’t have an update on their conditions after the game.
Bombers offensive lineman Patrick Neufeld was a late scratch due to a personal matter, and was replaced at right guard by Tyler Elsbury, while Tui Eli started at centre.
The Bombers will head back out on the road to play their next game on Sunday, July 5, where they will try to get revenge on a Hamilton Tiger-Cats team they lost to in Week 2.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
