Like, right here and right now.

The Blue Bombers host the Calgary Stampeders Saturday night in the final regular-season home game at Princess Auto Stadium and with the club now looking up at the rest of the Canadian Football League's West Division -- and yet still in control of its playoff fate -- they need to end their current two-game nosedive and re-engage ASAP.

And it has to come following last weekend's 37-10 loss to the Montreal Alouettes which was the most lopsided in these parts since a 36-8 loss to the Stamps back on August 29, 2015.

How will this team respond next? Good question.

"There's been a lot of energy at practice, a lot of attention to detail in meetings and a lot more communication in meetings," began defensive end Willie Jefferson. "And then being one of the leaders on the defence, it's the last home game and I let the guys know that and, also, this is a game we have to have.

"We have to be better on offence, we have to be better on defence, we have to be better on special teams."

THE WEST RACE A look at the remaining games for each team in the West Division: EDM (11-4) -at Hamilton; vs Winnipeg; at Saskatchewan B.C. (9-6) -vs. Ottawa; at Calgary; vs. Winnipeg SASK (8-7) -at Montreal; vs. Montreal; vs. Edmonton CAL (8-8) -at Winnipeg; vs. B.C. WPG (7-8) -vs. Calgary; at Edmonton; at B.C.

A victory for the Stamps would clinch a playoff spot for the red and white, but a Blue Bombers win would give them the season series with their rivals and -- as they already have the points differential tiebreaker with the Saskatchewan Roughriders after their split their two games this season -- would also vault Winnipeg right back into the playoff picture.

"We've got another great opportunity against a divisional opponent, and we can potentially win the season series against them so there's a lot of upside for us. We're thankful we get another opportunity and to give our fans a good show," said defensive back Evan Holm in a chat with bluebombers.com this week.

"You've got to move on. You can't keep dwelling on everything that happened in Montreal. If you let it weigh on you it will carry into the next game. Calgary played well against Sask last week in their win and it felt like playoff football. They were flying around and VA (Stamps QB Vernon Adams, Jr.) was humming. We've got to see how we can stop him."

That would be a good start, as would be some consistency from the offence and a massive play or three from the special teams. It's not officially do or die time yet for the Blue Bombers, but they definitely have entered 'really need this one' territory.

Yes, the margin of error for this team is razor thin and the runway for liftoff to a playoff spot is shortening by the day.

"It's not do or die, but it's getting really close," added Jefferson. "We want to be able to take control of our future. We don't want it to be like, 'Oh, we have to have Calgary lose or we have to have B.C. lose or Sask lose' and this and that. We don't want to have to go through all scenarios.

"We just have to win games."

So, flush last week and refocus or, as Zach Collaros often says, 'Snap and clear.'

"It's not over yet," said Collaros. "We're where we need to be right now. I know you probably don't to hear it that way, but everything we want to accomplish is still right in front of us.

"So, this week's a big one. You can't really judge the entire season until the end."

BLUE BOMBERS (7-8) vs STAMPEDERS (8-8) Kickoff: Saturday, October 10th, 6 p.m. CT; Princess Auto Stadium TV/Streaming: TSN; CFL+ Radio:680 CJOB; Play-by-play: Derek Taylor | Analyst: Doug Brown Streaks: Wpg.: 2L; Cal.: 3W

FIND SOME MOJO, O

Winnipeg's offensive production in the loss in Montreal last weekend was positively putrid. Now, we know what some of you might be thinking here: 'Thanks a ton for that, pal. That wound was starting to heal, and you've done opened it up again.'

Well, we've done some more digging just to further put into perspective how inept the six first downs and 30 offensive play total was for the offence last week. We already mentioned in our most recent Upon Further Review that the discrepancy in the time of possession -- Montreal had the ball for 40 minutes and 38 seconds to 19:22 for the Blue Bombers which was largest time of possession margin on record for the Blue Bombers since that stat was first monitored in the mid 1990s.

And after checking with CFL status guru Steve Daniel this week, the last time Winnipeg only had six first downs in a game was way back on August 15, 1990, in a 20-10 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

For those of you scoring at home, that's 36 years ago.

The Blue Bombers had just five possessions in the second half last week and managed just 41 net yards with two first downs and four two and outs.

Just for more context, even in last year's win over the Ottawa RedBlacks in which they had just 54 yards passing, the Blue Bombers still managed twice as many first downs as last week, with 12.

Winnipeg ran just 30 offensive plays in Montreal. The Alouettes had 70.

As receiver Nic Demski said this week: "It made for a short film day the next day."

"The answer is staying on the field and there's probably a different answer -- several different answers -- for each drive," added head coach Mike O'Shea. "When you're not playing consistently well it looks like that. So, from penalties, to blocking assignments, to reads, to drops... if there's one every series, you're just not on the field enough."

WELCOME BACK, ZACH

The biggest news in Bomberland this week was the return of QB1 Zach Collaros, who has been out since the Banjo Bowl win over Saskatchewan on September 12th. The veteran pivot still oozes confidence and certainly brings that to the offensive huddle.

Critical now for the club is to keep him upright and allow him to get comfortable in the pocket. Consider this: in his five starts before his last injury the Blue Bombers won three games, lost the fourth to the Riders in OT and also fell to Edmonton on a walk-off field goal. Over that stretch Collaros completed 69.7 percent of his passes for 1,219 yards with six touchdowns and three interceptions.

"He's just a savvy vet," said right tackle Jarell Broxton of Collaros. "He brings an energy to the offence as well and controls the huddle. And it's his poise. He's been doing this for a long time, and he's been in situations like this where we need it.

"All week you can see his confidence and his excitement for being back."

TAKE A BOW, BOMBER NATION

Let's end with this, because it's a storyline which shouldn't be overlooked because it has become so commonplace in these parts:

The Blue Bombers are getting closer to another sellout for Saturday, which would mark the seventh time in 10 games this year.

There's more to trumpet here, too: all 10 home games this season have drawn over 30,000 fans -- that's more than the combined total of six from the rest of the CFL -- and since the start of 2023 this football team has had 39 home games including playoffs and played to 32 crowds of 30,000 or more, including 28 sell outs.

That's absolutely astonishing.

"There's a massive emotional support we get from the fans when the defence takes the field and when the offence gets first downs or put the ball in the zone," said Jefferson. "Or when we get a good punt return or kick return or a punt block.

"We need to feed off those things. This game is the definition of playoff atmosphere."

THE LINEUP: The Blue Bombers have made three changes to the lineup from last week's loss in Montreal. The biggest move is the return of Collaros, while LB Jaylen Smith and DE Kydran Jenkins also come aboard. Also of note, Tui Eli will start at centre over Tyler Elsbury.

LB Michael Ayers has been moved to the one-game injured list with QB Taylor Elgersma and DE Nuer Gatkuoth moved to the reserve roster.

The six-game injured list features defensive backs Cam Allen, Ethan Ball, Jaiden Woodbey, and Jonathan Moxey, linebackers Brody Clark, Dylan Hazen and Jovan Santos-Knox, DE Matt Jaworski and WR Gavin Cobb.