The B.C. Lions got a little extra help to seal the deal against the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Saturday night in Regina, concluding the 2025 regular season with a 27-21 victory. By virtue of the win, the team will now host a playoff game for the third time in four years.
Here are my thoughts on the game.
Whistle while you work
This game didn’t mean a damn thing for Saskatchewan, but you wouldn’t know it by their reaction to its controversial turning point. In fairness, it’s hard to blame them for the fury, as the Lions received the benefit of one of the most egregious mistakes that an official can make.
On their first drive of the second half, Nathan Rourke found Keon Hatcher open in the red zone, and the receiver battled his way to the goal zone. Wrapped up short of the mark, he attempted to reach backwards over his head to break the plane, but lost his handle on the ball as he was smoked from behind by DaMarcus Fields. Tevaughn Campbell scooped up the fumble and, despite Rourke’s best efforts, raced 117 yards for a momentum-stealing defensive touchdown.
It could have been a back-breaker for the Lions as they would have trailed by two scores, but they had an angel in their corner — or at least, a referee. An inadvertent early whistle was heard as clear as day on the broadcast at the same time as the ball was jarred loose. That meant that once the fumble was confirmed by video review, recovery could only be awarded at the three-yard line. Campbell’s return and those vital points fell victim to a pair of prematurely pursed lips.
This was a mistake and an indefensible one at that. Unfortunately for Saskatchewan, it was also the correct call for when a whistle is blown early. Naturally, this situation will be compared to the most controversial play from Friday night, when a fumble by Edmonton’s Justin Rankin was awarded to Calgary in the end zone on review, even after whistles blew and arms went up. While the speed of the “clear and obvious recovery” in that case could be disputed, the rule was applied identically in both circumstances — the ball was awarded on review to the team that recovered it after the whistle at the spot they recovered it.
It is hard to say what would have happened if Campbell’s touchdown had stood, but given that B.C. only won by six points, the easy conclusion is that they would have lost this game. That would have given Calgary a home playoff game and set the Lions on a massive road trip to Montreal as the crossover team next week. It is not hyperbole to suggest that the outcome of the Grey Cup may have been shifted by that single puff of air.
Ominous signs
The Lions accomplished their mission on Saturday night and got what they needed — a victory and home-field advantage next week. Still, it doesn’t feel like their performance was worth celebrating.
No team can be taken for granted in the CFL, least of all a deep Saskatchewan squad, but this was supposed to be a victory. The Riders are banged up at multiple positions, kept several starters in street clothes to preserve them, and pulled a bunch more by mid-way through the second quarter. The fact that B.C. only won by six is a red flag, especially given how effectively the home team’s offence was able to move the ball before they sat their best players.
Trevor Harris was hyper-efficient after a week of rest, going 10-of-11 for 112 yards and scrambling 13 yards for a first down while leading three consecutive scoring drives. Canadian receiver Kian Schaffer-Baker looked like a man amongst boys until his usage was ratcheted back, and A.J. Ouellette’s humble stat line of 11 carries for 43 yards hides the fact that it took three or more Lions to tackle him every time. At the root of it all was an outstanding Saskatchewan offensive line, which did not seem to have any trouble with B.C.’s newfound pass rush.
The Lions had better luck once Jake Maier was at the helm, holding him to 154 yards the rest of the way. Still, it never felt like the dominant defensive performances we’ve been treated to in the past few weeks. It’s awfully hard to beat a team when you lose the time of possession battle by almost 14 minutes and allow them to convert 58.6 percent of their second down opportunities. The Riders found ways to move the ball and gave their potential West Final foe something to think about.
If B.C. makes it back to Mosaic, there will be no backups, no let-up, and no quarter. They’ll have to stop the top dogs at their sharpest. This recent stretch has restored confidence in their ability to do that, but they will have to be better than they were on Saturday.
Throwing away history
Salting away an important victory with a couple of late runs was the correct strategy for B.C., but part of me wishes Buck Pierce had let Rourke drop back just one more time. The Canadian QB finished the contest with 368 yards passing, leaving him just six yards shy of Bo Levi Mitchell for the league lead this season.
Russ Jackson remains the only Canadian to have claimed a CFL passing yardage crown, doing so just once in 1969. You have to go even further back than that to find any player to have averaged more yards per passing attempt (on a minimum of 400 throws) than Rourke did at 10.58 this year. The only player better in league history was Sam Etcheverry with 10.59 in 1956. But people likely won’t remember that accomplishment, because another name with sit on top of the 2025 charts.
You can bet that Rourke doesn’t give a rat’s fat patootie about his place in history and happily handed the ball off, but his recent play continues to be revelatory. The 27-year-old kicked off the game with a 63-yard touchdown strike to Ayden Eberhardt on his very first throw and completed four straight passes for 123 yards before making a mistake. That was an interception by Abbotsford native Nelson Lokombo, which was simply a case of getting overly greedy on a play Saskatchewan had already failed to stop once.
Rourke continued to make plays when the team needed him to in the second half, adding two more touchdown passes. One of those probably should have been a rushing score, but he flipped it skyward instead for Keon Hatcher, who made an improbable diving grab. For better or for worse, it was the type of playmaking lunacy that only one player in this league can generate.
Kings and associated crowns
Rourke may not have finished the season atop the passing charts, but several other Lions clinched their own statistical supremacy in the final game of the campaign.
With seven catches for 75 yards and a touchdown, Keon Hatcher extended his lead over Kenny Lawler in the receiving yardage race to 245 yards. Considering everyone and their mother had anointed the high-priced Ticat by Week 5, the fact that he has been surpassed so definitively feels like an underreported story. Hatcher also owns a share of the receptions crown, finishing with 102 to tie Toronto’s Kevin Mital.
Over on the defensive side of the ball, middle linebacker Micah Awe added four tackles to conclude his quest to be the CFL’s king in that category, as well as in total defensive plays. Most Outstanding Defensive Player nominee Mathieu Betts added another sack to make his league-leading tally in that category 15.
Kicker Sean Whyte also concluded the year as the leader in field goal accuracy, connecting on 95.1 percent of his attempts. Though he missed on an early extra point, the White Rock native also nailed his longest kick of the season in Saskatchewan, making good from exactly 50 yards out.
Banned from the dealership
For weeks, we’ve talked about how the Lions’ two-headed rushing attack is built to win November football on the prairies. Well, the team had a chance to take those twin-engines for an October test drive in the regular-season finale and promptly drove them into a brick wall.
James Butler recorded his second-worst rushing game of the season, finishing with 28 yards on eight carries. That included a stat-padding 11-yard run on the game’s final series that was his longest of the night. For the first time since he returned to the lineup, big Zander Horvath was also invisible, generating five yards on three carries despite getting involved earlier than ever before.
B.C.’s offensive line struggled to generate any meaningful push against Saskatchewan’s standout defensive front, resulting in an uncharacteristically one-dimensional performance. Even in the passing game, Rourke was pinned in the pocket and subjected to more pressure than typical, as the likes of Malik Carney, Habakkuk Baldonado, and Caleb Sanders posed problems at times. Even though it only resulted in two sacks, I thought the Riders’ ability to push back the likes of Anu Una and Dejon Allen contributed to several missed throws from their quarterback.
That front isn’t going anywhere, and Pierce will have to dig into his bag of tricks to neutralize them should the Lions earn a rematch.
The doctor is in
Jackson Findlay makes the rest of us look bad. Not only is he a top-notch human being with the academic pedigree to one day live out his dream of becoming a pediatric oncologist, but he has also recorded an interception in each of his first four career starts at safety in the CFL.
Seriously, dude? Leave something for the rest of us to brag about.
Nathan Rourke’s doppleganger may have simply been in the right place at the right time when Jake Maier elected to throw a pass right into his chest this week, but many of the plays he’s made haven’t been as easy. Right now, he’s grading out as one of the CFL’s top safeties as a rookie — which should surprise no one. The laundry list of excuses that various scouts used to justify why he somehow fell to the second round never made much sense to me.
With Cristophe Beaulieu still out long term, this could be Findlay’s job the rest of the way, and he’s more than up to the task. How this team handles the safety position in 2026 will be fascinating, because you can make a compelling argument that they’ll have two all-star calibre Canadian players still on rookie deals. Can both be on the field at the same time or could we see one used as a bargaining chip?
Nice to meet you
Speaking of Canadian rookies making an impact, B.C.’s top draft pick Hayden Harris saw more minutes after entering the lineup a few weeks ago. He finished off the stat sheet, but played a major role in one of the team’s biggest defensive plays.
It was Harris who surged through the A-gap on third-and-short on the Riders’ first drive of the second half, forcing Jake Maier to bubble around and get tackled short by Micah Awe for a turnover on downs. That would have been a massive momentum swing, had Hatcher not fumbled at the goal line on the next series.
Harris has the potential to be a big part of this team’s future. Seeing him make even a few plays this early is a great sign.
Ayden E-Bey-hardt
This reference is likely to perplex most of my older readers, but as a child of the early 2000s, Ayden Eberhardt’s second touchdown of the game gave me flashbacks to the days on the playground when Beyblades reigned supreme.
The perennially unsung receiver bore a striking resemblance to those spinning tops, designed to do battle with your opponent without much in the way of finesse or strategic forethought, on his way to the end zone. His first spin came way too early and served to bamboozle the opposition, while a second reverse rotation kept him moving through contact as defenders fell to the ground around him. It was truly something to behold.
Eberhardt has been quieter as of late, but he continues to make massive plays when called upon. Four catches for 101 yards and two touchdowns in this one have only padded his unbelievable 19.2 yards per reception average.
Playing it safe
Marquise Bridges, who was signed on September 10 after being released by Winnipeg, made his unexpected debut at cornerback for the Lions in this game after veteran Garry Peters was scratched in warmups.
The 34-year-old has been a game-time decision due to a knee injury for the past several weeks, and this time it proved to be too much. Hopefully, this represents an abundance of caution for B.C. and not a major setback, as Peters remains a vital part of the defence. He’s not the league’s premier cover man anymore, but he is miles better than any available alternative.
The full breadth of Peters’ injury hasn’t been made public, but my understanding is that it is more serious than most fans realize and could require offseason surgery. His resilience to play through it for this long has been something to behold, and the Lions need it to continue in the postseason.
Math is hard
With all due respect, I’m not quite sure why we have a Most Outstanding Player debate between Nathan Rourke and Bo Levi Mitchell. For anyone with a calculator handy or basic math skills, there is no statistical comparison between the two.
This is not meant to be disrespectful towards Mitchell in any way, as he’s put forth an incredible campaign and set a new career-high with 36 passing touchdowns. Still, add in his lone rushing score, and you have 37 total touchdowns generated. Rourke already had more than that entering the regular-season finale, and with his Saturday totals, has produced a combined 41 majors — 31 passing and 10 rushing.
While Rourke failed to surpass Mitchell in the passing yardage race, the same principle applies when it comes to total offence generated. Mitchell’s impressive 5,296 passing yards go with just 124 rushing yards for a grand total of 5,420 yards of offence. His Canadian counterpart’s rushing prowess meant that he was also above that mark before kickoff in Saskatchewan. With 5,290 yards through the air and 564 on the ground, his final tally is 5,854.
All of that would be enough to tilt the scales if the two QBs were on a level playing field, but they weren’t. Mitchell played the entire 18-game season, with backup Taylor Powell tossing just eight passes all year. Rourke didn’t, missing two games due to injury, which makes his prorated production even higher. Given that both teams won 11 games and B.C. failed to notch a victory without their starter, that also gives the 27-year-old a better winning percentage.
The only — and I mean only — advantage that Mitchell has over Rourke in this debate is that he’s thrown fewer interceptions, just 11 this season compared to 16. Far be it from me to excuse Nathan’s failure to protect the football, as there have been some real forehead slappers this year, but the analytics don’t suggest he’s actually worse than Bo here. Pro Football Focus had Mitchell credited with a CFL-leading 34 turnover-worthy plays entering the last week of action, while Rourke was assessed with just 20. Simply put, the Ticats’ QB has put the ball in danger more this year, but either the defence has failed to capitalize or Kenny Lawler has bailed him out.
Given all this information, I don’t know how anyone but a rabid Ticats homer could justify a vote for Bo once the two eventually go head-to-head. Still, the awards voting process is a deeply flawed one, and there have already been some utterly head-scratching selections in terms of the team winners. As a voter myself, I hope people hold us accountable if we get it wrong.
Domeward bound
The Lions now head home to receive their reward: a matchup with the Calgary Stampeders and their old friend Vernon Adams Jr. in the West Semi-Final from the comfy confines of BC Place.
It is hard to quantify just how impactful this victory is to their Grey Cup hopes, but try this on for size: the Lions have never lost a West Semi-Final at home. The last time they lost a playoff game of any flavour at home was 2012.
Nothing will be easy on the path to ending a 14-year Grey Cup drought, but this should at least grease the wheels. Most importantly, it will provide the entire province with another opportunity to pack the dome for something meaningful, before it becomes enslaved to international soccer next summer.
I genuinely hope that fans fill the stands and bring the type of atmosphere that not even a big-name musical act can buy. Under the ownership of Amar Doman, this franchise has done things the right way, invested in the product and the fan experience, and now has a team on the field worthy of that expenditure. Win or lose, that’s worth celebrating.
If you happen to enjoy watching grown men fail to hit a ball with a stick while chewing bubble gum and trying not to get their slacks too dirty, worry not because the kickoff has already been shifted to 2:30 p.m. PDT to avoid conflict with the World Series. There is no excuse not to be there.
