The Blue Bombers looked to continue on the success of the 2011 season, in which they made it all the way to the Grey Cup game.

However, the team slipped to third place in the East Division and missed the playoffs, finishing with a 6–12 record.

The Blue Bombers started the season 0–4 for the first time since 2008, which was also, coincidentally, a year after they had an appearance in the Grey Cup game.

The low point of the season occurred in Tim Burke's debut as head coach on September 2, 2012, in which the team suffered a 52–0 shutout loss to their biggest rivals the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the Labour Day Classic.

With a 28–18 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on October 27, 2012, the Blue Bombers were eliminated from playoff contention.