CFL Week 21 Recap: Not Done Yet

The 2024 Canadian Football League regular season is over, but to play off the words of the late, great Mel Blanc, "That's not all, folks!"

The 21st and final week of the regular season was anti-climactic for the most part. The BC Lions took their last week off, as they had completed their regular season and finished at 9-9, and were waiting for their playoff destination. The Friday matchups were not relevant to the playoff picture, as the games featured the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Ottawa Redblacks facing off in one game, while the Toronto Argonauts faced the Edmonton Elks in another. The Eastern battle was high scoring, but went Ottawa's way by a score of 37-31, and the Argos/Elks game ended up going to OT--with Edmonton winning via a walk-off rouge via a punt. Holy cow!

Saturday's action had the important games. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Saskatchewan Roughriders each had games, with the latter facing the Montréal Alouettes in a rematch of last year's Grey Cup. A Winnipeg win would seal them in first in the West, or a tie could do the same. Saskatchewan's only route to the division title was a win and the Bombers losing. A tie in the standings would favor Winnipeg, as they won the season series. It was close, but the Bombers ended up winning narrowly; 28-27 over the Alouettes. As a result, the Bombers, after an 0-4 start, finished first in the West Division, making the Riders' game against the Calgary Stampeders irrelevant. Even worse for the Riders, they were defeated at home by the Stamps, 27-12.

Out of the three eliminated teams, the Elks really showed some promise and improvement with their 7-11 season. Having McLeod Bethel-Thompson at QB does help; he entered this season two years removed from a Grey Cup championship. The Tiger-Cats made quite a bit of noise as well, but it's surprising to see the Stampeders really regress at 5-12-1.

So that's that, the regular season is over, and now, it's on to the 111th Grey Cup Playoffs, starting with the Division Semifinals:

Eastern Semifinal: Redblacks @ Argonauts

It's been a trying season for the Argonauts, especially due to the obvious reason (Chad Kelly's actions). Despite this, we did manage to join this playoff party, though with the way the Alouettes started, first in the East was definitely off the table. It did look like we would actually miss the playoffs altogether, but we did win the right games at the right time to get in and host this year's Eastern Semifinal. As for the Redblacks, they have vastly improved, and for the most part, it definitely looked like they'd be the ones hosting this game. Even so, just making the playoffs is a big boost to a Redblacks team who had been a far cry from the squad who played for the Grey Cup three times in their first five seasons of existence.

This is the first ever playoff meeting between these two teams; the last time we received a Toronto vs Ottawa playoff matchup was 1990, and back then, it was the old Ottawa Rough Riders. The Argonauts are coming off being blasted at home in last year's Eastern Final by the Alouettes.

Western Semifinal: Lions @ Roughriders

It's been 11 years since the Saskatchewan Roughriders won the Grey Cup; winning the 101st game in 2013. They haven't even made it to the big game since then, and the Riders are coming off a disastrous 6-12 campaign from 2023. They improved by 3.5 games and finished at 9-8-1, which was enough for second place in the West and a home game in this year's playoffs. However, while the Riders are looking to end a long drought, the British Columbia Lions are looking to do more than just that. It's been 13 years for the Lions, but for them, it's a bigger motivation: the big game is in Vancouver this year. The Lions want that chance to win their seventh Grey Cup in their home town, but ironically, they'll have to be road warriors to do just that.

I mentioned 2013 earlier; that was actually the last time these two teams faced each other in the postseason, doing so in that year's Western Semifinal. The Riders missed the playoffs last year, while BC came up short in last year's Western Final against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

The Division Semifinals will take place on Saturday, November 2 in Toronto, Ontario and Regina, Saskatchewan. The Division Finals will take place a week later on Saturday, November 9 in Montréal, Quebec and Winnipeg, Manitoba, and the 111th Grey Cup will take place on Sunday, November 17 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Division Semis will air on TSN in Canada, with the Eastern game also airing on CTV. As for American and other international viewers, the games will air on CFL+.

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