CFL Week 15 Recap: The Home Stretch Begins

See that beautiful baby? That, folks, is the Grey Cup (Coupe Grey in French). That's the trophy that nine teams playing across Canada are vying to capture. After 14 weeks, the 2025 CFL season is down to the final one-third of the season, the final seven weeks. It's amazing how symmetrical the CFL season is. Similar to how the NFL season could easily be divided into three six-week increments, the CFL season can be split into three seven-week periods. Even more amazing is that each third has a holiday featured. The first block has Canada Day. The heart of the season has Labour Day, and the home stretch has Canadian Thanksgiving.

Week 15 kicked off the beginning of the end, and already, the first clinching scenario of the season was announced. The Saskatchewan Roughriders, with the league's best record, had a chance to punch their ticket to the playoffs. A win would get them in for sure. If not, between the Blue Bombers, Elks, and Lions, they would need any two of those three to lose. So let's see how that went.

First, the Friday games. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats hosted the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Would the TiCats do their part? Yes. Hamilton dominated the whole game, leading 20-10 at halftime and going on to win 32-21. So the Bombers fell, now the Riders needed either the Lions or Elks to lose. The second half of the Friday double header was the BC Lions at home against the Ottawa Redblacks. Would the Redblacks help out? Unfortunately, no. The Lions were just too much for them, winning 38-27 over Ottawa.

Saturday rolled around, and the Riders still had a chance to clinch before taking the field. The Elks needed to lose, and they were in Toronto against the Argonauts. Would the Boatmen come through? It didn't look like it at first. We were down 14-3 at the half, but a strong second half gave us a good chance. At the last seconds, a field goal by Lirim Hajrullahu gave the Argos our third straight win, 31-30.

So with the Bombers loss and the Elks loss, the Saskatchewan Roughriders became the first to lock up a spot in the 112th Grey Cup Playoffs. One spot down, five remain. The Riders got in before taking the field at home against the Montréal Alouettes, who dominated the Riders, 48-31. Wow. So in a week full of East vs West games, the East won three of the games. Holy moley.

So with six weeks left, here's how things stand:

There's the "x" next to the Saskatchewan Roughriders; they were defeated, but at 10-3, they are still playoff bound and will look to win the Grey Cup for the first time in 12 years. The idle Calgary Stampeders sit at 8-4, while the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and BC Lions are tied for third place at 6-7. The Edmonton Elks still have an outside shot at 5-8, that's just a single game out of a playoff position. In the East, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats still have a bit of a commanding lead, the Montréal Alouettes trail at 6-7, the Toronto Argonauts are still behind the playoff line thanks to the crossover, and the Ottawa Redblacks are running out of time.

Week 16 will kick of on Friday, September 19 with an Eastern battle between the Montréal Alouettes and the Toronto Argonauts, followed by a Western battle between the BC Lions and the Calgary Stampeders. On Saturday, September 20, the Ottawa Redblacks will host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and that will be followed by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats hosting the Edmonton Elks.

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