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This article was published 5/7/2016 (1538 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

So how embattled is Mike O’Shea right now?

Well, the venerable Bob Irving had to spend the opening of O’Shea’s weekly Monday night call-in show on CJOB admonishing listeners to be civil.

"We’re not here for personal attacks and there will be none of that," Irving told listeners at the start of the show. "This will be civilized. All right? Got the message, folks?"

That, suffice to say, is the not typical opening to an hour-long call-in show — radio hosts usually ask listeners to pick up the phone, not read them the riot act — but then, these are not exactly ordinary times.

Riot act

While the Bombers are just 0-2 and the 2016 CFL regular season is barely out of the starting gate, the citizens of Bombers Nation are as angry right now as I’ve ever seen them in my years of covering this team and all that frustration is being overwhelmingly channelled in the direction of O’Shea.

While fans were forbidden from attacking the man Monday night, Irving said nothing about attacking the coach; caller after caller did just that, ripping O’Shea a new one in what amounted to a 60-minute dissection of everything the fans think he’s doing wrong as head coach.

While the word "fired" wasn’t used once during the show, that’s maybe the only place in this town the last few days that the word hasn’t come up in connection with O’Shea’s name.

Intensity

That talk will only increase in volume and intensity if the Bombers lose again this week in Hamilton and that got me thinking on Tuesday that it was time to pay a visit to Paul LaPolice, the man who would most likely be tapped to replace O’Shea.

Nobody knows better than LaPolice what O’Shea is going through right now, having experienced the exact same thing during the summer of 2012, when he was dumped as head coach — less than a year removed from a Grey Cup game appearance — when his club opened the season at 2-6.

I was reminded just how familiar this all must look to LaPolice when he interrupted me while I was asking him whether he understands why fans are frustrated right now.

"Yes, I do," he said with grin. "I’ve worked here before."

Yes, LaPolice certainly has worked here before. And that, of course, is probably the strongest case against rehiring him as head coach if O’Shea gets the boot.

Remember when George Steinbrenner kept firing and then rehiring Billy Martin as the manager of the New York Yankees? That was evidence of a deeply dysfunctional team. I’m not sure why anyone thinks this would be any different.

But it’s even more screwed up than that. As the heir apparent to O’Shea, LaPolice is in a unique position as the team’s offensive co-ordinator — the worse his charges perform, the more likely it is O’Shea will be canned and he’ll be the one taking over.

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Offensive co-ordinator Paul LaPolice (left), with head coach Mike O'Shea.

And wouldn’t that be just so... Bombers? You want dysfunction? Try that one on for size.

Now, not for a moment am I suggesting LaPolice has sabotaged the Bombers offence for his own personal gain. There’s no grassy knoll here — LaPolice is as competitive a man as I’ve ever met and he wants to win just as much as everyone else.

But it’s a legitimate question that he needs to answer: why is an offence with a new scheme and some valuable new weapons not working so far? I asked LaPolice to pretend he was back in his previous job as a TSN analyst and dissect what’s wrong with his offence. The reply would make for terrible television.

"We’re not scoring enough points, that’s what’s wrong," he said.

Well, no kidding. But why?

He didn’t really have a detailed answer for me, rejecting any suggestion that quarterback Drew Willy has looked indecisive. In fact, Willy has been getting the ball away faster than ever, according to LaPolice.

He also pointed to Willy’s 73 per cent completion rate this season, while conveniently glossing over the fact that number has been mostly padded in garbage time of both of Winnipeg’s losses.

LaPolice isn’t interested in changing signal-callers, disputing the suggestion that having Willy watching backup Matt Nichols might help matters. "The most benefit you get is from playing," he said.

LaPolice raised a few eyebrows Tuesday when he revealed earlier that a decision to replace Willy with Nichols, even temporarily, is above his pay grade.

"Those aren’t my calls," he said.

That might be true this week. But — depending on what happens in Hamilton Thursday — it could be his call by this time next week. I asked him if he’s heard all the talk over the last few days about him getting his head coaching job.

"I don’t hear any of that and I wouldn’t comment on any of that," LaPolice said. "Mike is the head coach and he’s going to be the head coach. He’s the guy."

O’Shea’s the guy, all right. The guy quite a few of this city’s football fans want to run out of town.

Civilized? Good luck with that, if the Bombers lose again this week.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek