B.C. Lions' quarterback Jonathon Jennings, left, and Stephen Adekolu celebrate Jennings touchdown that proved to be the game winning score against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers during second half western semifinal CFL football action in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday November 13, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
It’s one of the great things about CFL Football, especially in the playoffs: a game is never over until there are zeroes showing on the clock. With TSN Encore scheduled to re-air the classic playoff comeback this Friday night (8:30 PM PACIFIC), our latest installment of Baker’s Archives goes back to November 13th, 2016 when Jonathon Jennings and company stunned the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 32-31 in the Western Semi-Final.
Although the Lions’ Grey Cup aspirations would be dashed the next week in Calgary, the thrilling comeback over a Winnipeg team that had their number that season would go down as a big accomplishment for a group that surprised many pundits in 2016.
For this writer, it was his first season working for the club and being at every game both home and away. The chance to experience a playoff win up close is something I’ll always cherish and it makes me excited for even bigger ones to come. We also encourage fans to join our Truly Virtual Den Party as part of Friday’s re-broadcast. Fans can join via our Virtual Den Facebook Page. Plenty of Lions guests, from past to current players, are scheduled to join as well!
The Backdrop
An upstart Jennings at quarterback and a return to the sidelines for Wally Buono that sparked a lot of the veteran core enabled the 2016 Lions to exceed the expectations of many. It resulted in a 12-6 record and second place finish in the ultra-competitive Western Division. For context, Mike Reilly and the defending Grey Cup champion Eskimos were 9-9 and forced to crossover to the East Division come playoff time.
Jennings’ 5,226 passing yards were good for third overall behind Reilly and Calgary’s Bo Levi Mitchell. Emmanuel Arceneaux had his best season as a pro with 1,566 receiving yards while Bryan Burnham established himself as one of the league’s best young stars, beginning his run of four consecutive seasons of over 1,000 yards.
The defence was led in the middle by the famous ‘Team 100’ duo of Solomon Elimimian and Adam Bighill. Simply put, we had game-breakers and excellent role players at every position.
Still, like many good teams, they faced a bit of adversity. And it came in the form of their eventual playoff opponents during a critical home and home series in October. The first matchup was on the Saturday afternoon of Thanksgiving weekend on a mild but drizzly day in Winnipeg. The Bombers jumped out to a 14-3 first-quarter lead, led by four at halftime, and then came up with a defensive goal-line stand late in the fourth quarter to preserve a 37-35 victory.
The result also wasn’t without controversy as Andrew Harris appeared to lose a fumble in the ensuing Bombers possession that should have given the Lions another chance to punch it in. Without enough evidence to overturn the call, the Lions quickly brushed aside any talk of the officials playing a role and immediately prepared for the rematch at home six nights later.
They would ultimately let a ten-point fourth quarter lead slip and allow the Bombers to complete the sweep with a 35-32 win in front of a stunned BC Place crowd. Those back-to-back losses allowed the Bombers to tie them in the standings at 9-6, plus earn the head to head tiebreaker. It also wouldn’t be the first comeback involved in a Lions-Blue Bombers game that year.
Thankfully, Jennings and company were able to win their remaining three games and finish in second thanks to a Blue Bombers loss to Ottawa in the second to last week of regular season play. Although the feeling was they maybe dodged a bullet after losing to the Bombers twice, this resilient squad deserved full marks for securing a first home playoff game since 2012. For the Bombers, it was their first playoff game of any kind since losing the 2011 Grey Cup to the Lions at BC Place. And then things got even more exciting…….
Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ Andrew Harris (33) is chased by B.C. Lions’ Adam Bighill (44), Ryan Phillips (21) and Mike Edem (11) as he runs the ball in for a touchdown that was called back due to a penalty, during the first half of a CFL football game in Vancouver, B.C., on Friday October 14, 2016. THE CANADIAN
The First Half: Short-Term Setback For Long-Term Comeback
Inexperience, and perhaps a few playoff jitters, played a role early. After Jennings tossed an interception to Chris Randle on the game’s second play, Matt Nichols marched Winnipeg right down the field and set up a four-yard touchdown run by Harris to put the visitors on top. Later in that first quarter with the offence set up on Winnipeg’s 14-yard line, Jennings was stripped sacked by Maurice Leggatt and the Bombers had their second takeaway in the opening ten minutes.
Buono insisted he wasn’t going to give up on his young quarterback after a couple of early miscues.
“I’ve yet to be around a quarterback that hasn’t thrown an interception,” Buono said after the game.
“I’ve been around Doug Flutie, Dave Dickenson, Jeff Garcia and Buck Pierce. Throwing an interception is part of the game. It’s how you react after you throw it. If he throws seven, I would pull him out of the game. He threw one. The defensive player made a great play. He jumped the throw.”
Unfazed, the Lions would get in the board early in the second as a re-focused Lions quarterback connected with Burnham for their first points of the afternoon. In typical Burnham fashion, he picked up some yards after the catch and found the end zone. Game on? Not just yet.
Nichols then engineered two consecutive touchdown drives to put the visitors up 19 and send shockwaves through BC Place. But full credit for the Lions to not getting discouraged early. Jeremiah Johnson gave the Lions a much-needed boost when he exploded for a 40-yard touchdown run with just over a minute left before the break. It was a 25-12 Bombers advantage at halftime and the guys in orange and black knew they had to keep the momentum going…..
B.C. Lions’ Bryan Burnham, right, dives past Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ TJ Heath to score a touchdown during first half western semifinal CFL football action in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday November 13, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
The Second Half Comeback: Jennings’ Time To Shine
The third quarter would be best remembered for a play that contributed to an extra emotional post-game Lions celebration. Now trailing 28-12 and facing a first down on Winnipeg’s 14-yard line (familiar territory), Jennings attempted to find Arceneaux in the back of the end zone as the Lions receiver was leveled by Bombers’ safety Taylor Loffler.
The shoulder hit resulted in unnecessary roughness call and eventually a seven-yard touchdown run for Jennings to cut Winnipeg’s lead to nine. But the Lions would now have to pull out this win without their best receiver who had his bell rung while also aggravating an ankle injury he had suffered on the Randle interception back on the game’s opening series.
On to the craziness that was the fourth quarter. The stout Lions defence held Winnipeg to just a pair of field goals in the second half, the last of which put Winnipeg on top 31-19. Jennings responded with a nine-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a touchdown pass to Terrel Sinkfield. Cue the comeback! It was now a five-point game.
The defence once again did their part and Jennings w0uld get the ball back on his own 28-yard line with 4:03 to play. In this situation, the Lions needed to score but also wouldn’t want to score too quickly and put it in the hands of Justin Medlock; the Bombers’ clutch kicker. We love a little foreshadowing…
Using the clock to his advantage, Jennings didn’t push it right away as he started with six-yard completions to Chris Rainey, Stephen Adekolu and Marco Iannuzzi with the three-minute warning sandwiched in between.
They were at their own 46 with still plenty of time that would pretty much leave the whole playbook open. Three plays later and facing a second and long, Jennings found Ianuzzi for 21 yards to keep the drive alive and then hit Burnham for 16 and all of a sudden, they were on Winnipeg’s 13-yard line.
With 2:02 to play, a first down would really put the result in their hands. But the name of the game in this situation is to score, plain and simple. And two plays later, Jennings made what would be his signature play as a Lion. We’ll let the highlight do the talking:
Props to Jennings for not giving up on the play and eluding both Loffler and at least one other defender. It was no doubt a situation he wanted to be in from his time playing backyard football.
“That’s the dream moment right there,” Jennings said after his winning score.
“You don’t always want to win like that but if it had to be a cool way to win, you wanted to do something pretty cool and that was a cool way to do it.”
The Final Minute: Tense Moments
A failed two-point attempt kept the score 32-31 with still 1:06 remaining. More than enough time for Nichols to get it into Medlock’s range for the win. The Bombers started at their own 37-yard line after a solid kick return from Quincy McDuffie. Three plays after that, Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea through a challenge flag hoping to catch Solomon Elimimian for interfering on an incomplete pass to Weston Dressler.
But because Alex Bazzie had batted the attempt down, pass interference could not be called. Now O’Shea faced a decision: gamble on third and four down or send Medlock out to try a 61-yard field goal with 36 seconds still on the clock. He elected to put his faith in that season’s CFL Most Outstanding Special Teams Award winner.
The attempt was a good five yards short and retrieved by Rainey. Game over? Not without a final moment of craziness as Rainey elected to try and return it instead of simply going down. In the end, he was just delaying the inevitable.
“When I saw him miss it, what went through my head was ‘you know what? I’m going to try to score,” said Rainey told bclions.com in a chat that will air in full later this week.
“You have no clue how bad I wanted that touchdown after they beat us twice in the regular season.”
Perhaps it was a little symbolic of how the afternoon went overall.
ROAR REPORT: Lions stun Blue Bombers late, advance to Western Final
Bake’s “Inside” Takes
If I were to describe the aftermath of this comeback win in one word, it would have to be ’emotional.’ As the post-game handshakes began, I noticed offensive coordinator Khari Jones had tears of relief in his eyes. The Bombers players looked like they couldn’t believe what had just transpired.
As for the Lions locker room game balls celebration, it was highlighted by an emotional Arceneaux saluting his entire team for getting it done after he was knocked out of the game.
Emotions were no doubt running high in the room, but Buono was quick to remind both his players and the media that this was only one step of the November journey they wanted to take. Despite what happened the following week, I refuse to believe for one second that anyone in that room let this result get to their heads. They simply ran into a buzz saw…..
B.C. Lions’ quarterback Jonathon Jennings, left, and Stephen Adekolu celebrate Jennings touchdown that proved to be the game winning score against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers during second half western semifinal CFL football action in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday November 13, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
The Aftermath
The turnaround season came to a crashing halt the next week in Calgary as the Lions were clobbered 42-15 by a Stampeders team that finished 15-2-1 in the regular season. Jennings struggled in the first half and threw a pick-six to Jamar Wall that gave the home side a 32-0 halftime lead and basically struck a dagger through the Lions’ Grey Cup hopes.
Bighill (New Orleans Saints) and Phillips (Montreal) were among the key veterans who departed the den. Still, the Lions had sky-high expectations to once again content and take the next step in 2017. Thanks in large part to injuries and inconsistency, Jennings wasn’t the same. The result was a 7-11 record and missing the playoffs for the first time since 1996.
Ironically, the Bombers lone visit that season was almost a carbon copy of the playoff game several months earlier. With Travis Lulay starting in place of an injured Jennings, the Lions mounted a huge fourth quarter comeback to beat them 45-42. For good measure, the game also ended with a Medlock miss. Unfortunately, the Lions could not build on a 4-1 start to their season.
That 2016 Western Semi-Final remains the Lions’ most recent playoff victory. The current drought will no doubt make the next one even sweeter. Any way you slice it, this comeback win will still go down as one of the more memorable games in recent Lions history.