The Winnipeg Blue Bombers believed they had a realistic chance of playing in the 2015 Grey Cup game in their own backyard.

Winnipeg had a 3-3 record a third of the way through the season and then quarterback Drew Willy suffered a knee injury on August 9th in Hamilton.

With Willy on crutches and watching for the sidelines, the Blue Bombers won just two games the rest of the way and missed the playoffs for the fourth year in a row and the sixth time in seven years.

“Anytime you're injured, most athletes will tell you how much they miss the game and how appreciative they are about having the chance to always go play and that was my first major injury where I missed significant time,” said Willy. “Obviously that's tough but at the same time I think in the long run hopefully you can learn from that injury and make sure I'm out there all 18 games. That's the big goal for myself.”

By the way, the head coach of the Blue Bombers the only year they qualified for the post-season during this difficult stretch was Paul LaPolice who is now the football team's new offensive coordinator.

LaPolice guided Winnipeg to the Grey Cup in 2011 in Vancouver where they lost to the B.C. Lions and was then fired eight games into the 2012 season as the Bombers got off to a 2-6 start.

“Getting to learn coach LaPolice's offense has been great,” said Willy. “Just working with him a little bit talking ball. It's been good. Excited about our new acquisitions, excited about the new royal jerseys, all the positive energy in the building. Looking forward to getting out there and playing in front of our fans.”

The Winnipeg offense had issues in 2015 and Willy is expecting a major turnaround for their side of the ball in 2016.

“We're going to have a lot of versatile guys that we can get the ball in their hands. Run after the catch is a big deal. Getting (Weston) Dressler, (Ryan) Smith and (Andrew) Harris - obviously those guys have a lot of experience with the waggle and we're going to have a lot of good formations and motions to get those guys in space.”

“A lot of those guys are really good running with the ball in their hands. I saw those guys in Toronto earlier this week and they'll be in town very soon so I'll definitely get some work with them even before mini camp and go from there.”

Blue Bombers mini camp will take place Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday at Investors Group Field.