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Finally, it got to the once 7-0 team returning for the final third of the season on a five-game losing streak with a massive game here Saturday against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

At least the Eskimos didn’t return tied for last place.

Both the Saskatchewan Roughriders (6-6) and British Columbia Lions (6-7) both lost while Jason Maas’s team took a five-game losing streak into their bye week.

On the other hand, the runaway Calgary Stampeders won and are now an essentially uncatchable 11-1-1, and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers went to 9-3 and four points up on the Eskimos for second.

If nothing else, it was virtually impossible for the Eskimos to return in some sort of state of denial as they prepare to play host to those Blue Bombers Saturday night at Commonwealth Stadium.

Having lost 33-26 in Winnipeg to start the skid, Edmonton must not only win Saturday to hold any hope of playing host to a playoff game but must win by eight to claim the season series and take second spot in an event of a tie in the final standings.

“First and foremost in our minds is winning that game,” said Maas. “But obviously, you want to win the season series as well, and to accomplish that, we have to beat them by eight points. Our focus has to be on winning. We need a win. We understand that. That’s the only focus we have this week.

“We’re not looking back. We’re not looking ahead. We’re looking at one thing and one thing only and that’s having bull’s eyes on Winnipeg. That’s where our focus has to be the whole week.

“We talked about it this morning in our team meeting. We all needed it. We all needed to recharge and reboot.

“We always split seasons into thirds, and I’m just so thankful this bye happened to be going into our last third.

“However our psyche was ending the last six, it’s a lot different psyche now. Guys are refreshed. Guys are recharged. I think the energy was great today.

“But at the end of the day we need a win. Rather than on all the bad stuff that has happened, we’ve had 10 days to kind of get over all of that.”

E-mail: tjones@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @byterryjones