Elks mull late-game stalls as they remain winless after 3 games of young CFL season

Edmonton Elks quarterback Tre Ford (2) looks for a receiver during first half CFL action against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Winnipeg Thursday, June 26, 2025.

It was a mirror image of their previous game.

But the result was the same: Thursday’s early season Canadian Football League date in Winnipeg against the Blue Bombers was a loss for the winless Edmonton Elks.

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The week before at home to the Montreal Alouettes, the Elks came out flat in the first half before coming alive in the latter stages of the eventual 38-28 defeat.

In Winnipeg, the Elks found traction over the first three quarters only to fire blanks in the fourth quarter of the 36-23 decision for the Bombers.

The game was tied after 45 minutes and Winnipeg was holding onto a three-point lead until the final six minutes, when the hosts put up a touchdown and a field-goal.

That’s two games in a row when the Elks have stalled out completely in the dying stages, something head coach Mark Kilam says needs to change.

“We’ve got to figure out how to win games in the final five minutes,” Kilam, Edmonton’s rookie bench boss, told media after the game. “That’s the difference between our football team and theirs, their group that’s been there before.”

Understatements all around.

The Elks are 0-3 on the 2025 CFL schedule. The now 3-0 Blue Bombers, however, are definitely more seasoned and proven than just what happened in the late stages.

They’ve been the West Division’s representative in the last five Grey Cups, winning two of them with several principal figures still in place and dominating not just a new-look, rebuilding Elks squad but a recent divisional rival in the B.C. Lions, who Winnipeg had soundly beat in back-to-back games before the Edmonton game.

The same Lions who dealt the Elks a convincing loss in Week 1.

So while it’s well known the Blue Bombers have offensive weapons at their disposal, they sure know how to use them – “They ran it down our throats when everybody knows that’s what Winnipeg does at the end of the game, so that’s where we’ve got to get over the hump,” Kilam admitted post-game – and it’s a lesson moving forward for the Elks as they look ahead to next Sunday’s game against the visiting Ottawa Redblacks.

“We’ve gotten better three weeks in a row, but it’s about winning and it’s about doing the things that we need to get better to be on the other side of this result,” he said.

Blue Bombers quarterback Zach Collaros, in his second game of action this season after sitting out the opener while under suspension, threw three touchdown passes and finished the game 25 of 30 passing for 334 yards.

Elks quarterback Tre Ford, who was 18 of 29 passing for 252 yards, said even though the team is winless, they’re “feeling pretty good in our locker room.”

“I think we know that we left some stuff out there, and it was still a close game.”