Courtesy Winnipeg Sun:

He’s a man with nothing to lose — other than a Grey Cup game — and everything to gain.

Is there anybody in nicer shoes this week than Winnipeg Blue Bomber head coach, Doug Berry?

Think about it. If Berry’s Bombers, using a quarterback who’s never started a CFL game in his life, find a way to beat the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Sunday, the guy will be heralded as a genius. Move over, Bill Belichik.

On the other hand, if the Bombers lose, even if they get blown out, the prevailing wisdom will be they didn’t stand a chance in the first place, not with Ryan Dinwiddie taking the snaps.

Talk about a free pass. Berry’s very own get-out-of-jail card. Complete with all the money in the middle — if he happens to roll a 10.

You think he’s thinking that way, though?

Not a chance.

Because if there’s one thing I sensed in Berry from Day 1, it’s a competitive fire burning like Lady O’Leary’s Chicago inside him.

“That’s me,” Berry said that first day on the job, Dec. 15, 2005. “I’m a winner. I want to win. I expect to win.”

Which is why he’s making Dinwiddie sound like the second coming of Joe Montana. Instead of downplaying his team’s chances, Berry has been busy pumping them up.

Just listen to what he said yesterday, as the head coaches met the media in an annual event that’s usually about praising the other team and making yours sound overmatched.

“I’m just as excited about his decision making as I am about Kevin Glenn’s,” Berry said of Dinwiddie. “He’s been a winner wherever he’s been. Given an opportunity to play, I have no doubt in my mind that he will present himself as a most-valuable-player quarterback, even. He has all the traits.”

In another breath, he inadvertently compared Dinwiddie favourably to Anthony Calvillo, his old quarterback in Montreal and a player known for his work ethic in the film room.

“I have never been around a quarterback that prepares harder than Ryan Dinwiddie,” the coach gushed.

“This guy is as detailed and studious as anybody that you would ever dream to have as your quarterback. That is going to be the biggest factor in whether he is able to have success.”

Berry went on, about how Dinwiddie might not be the best runner around, but he’ll make people miss, about how feisty he is, about his accuracy as a passer.

BELIEVES IT

It’s hard to imagine the coach really believes it — but you get the impression he does, and wants Dinwiddie and every one of his teammates to believe it. Belief is the first step on the path to victory, right?

After all, if David didn’t have faith in his slingshot and stone, he’d likely have been little more than gum under Goliath’s shoe.

For what it’s worth, the Bombers seem to be drinking Berry’s Kool-Aid.

Dinwiddie had certainly gulped down a jug of it by the time he sat down for his first major media event yesterday.

Asked to describe his style, he went deep.

“I’d say it’s between Favre and, like, a Jake Plummer and a Montana,” Dinwiddie said.

No soft sell, there.

Just like there was no soft sell when Berry interviewed for the Bomber job. Asked what his expectations were, the man hauled out the Grey Cup ring he won with the Alouettes.

“That’s one of the things that really came together in hiring Doug,” Bomber CEO Lyle Bauer said.

“The expectations of the organization match the expectations he brings to the on-field mission.”

And whether or not he has one arm tied behind his back — or wrapped in a cast, as it were — the man can’t handle the thought of losing.

“He’ll take it personally,” Bauer said.

Other than that, he’s got nothing to lose.