1960 Winnipeg Blue Bombers season | |
---|---|
Head coach | Bud Grant |
Home field | Winnipeg Stadium |
Results | |
Record | 14–2–0 |
Division place | 1st, West |
Playoff finish | Lost Western Final |
The 1960 Winnipeg Blue Bombers, defending Grey Cup champions, finished in first place in the West Division with a league-best record of 14–2–0. Their 453 points scored were the most in the CFL (although their 28.3 points per game was slightly less than the 28.6 of Ottawa Rough Riders, who scored 400 points but in the East's shorter 14-game schedule). Their 239 points allowed were only 14 more than the Edmonton Eskimos, and their +214 points differential dwarfed Ottawa's +117, which had the second-best total. Their first-place finish earned them the bye into the WIFU Finals. They took the first game of the best two-of-three Finals by defeating Edmonton 22–16 in Edmonton, but lost the next two in Winnipeg by scores of 10–5 and 4–2, bringing an abrupt end to an otherwise dominant season.
On July 29, the Blue Bombers played the BC Lions in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Part of the local appeal was the presence on three former University of Iowa stars, Kenny Ploen and Ray Jauch of the Blue Bombers, and Willie Fleming of the BC Lions. The Blue Bombers defeated the Lions by a score of 13–7 in front of 12,583 fans.
Fullback and punter Charlie Shepard set a record with a 95-yard punt for a single in the victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders on September 12.
The Blue Bombers lost tackle Buddy Tinsley for two games with a facial injury and fullback Tony Kehrer for the season with a leg fracture, from injuries sustained in the victory over the BC Lions on September 17. End Farrell Funston was lost for the season after suffering a separated shoulder in the victory over the BC Lions on October 13.
Quarterback Kenny Ploen broke a bone in his throwing hand in the third quarter of the first game of the WIFU Final in Edmonton. At that point, Vernon Cole took over at quarterback while Ploen shifted to safety, for the balance of game one and all of game two.