Lions’ season of Grey Cup aspirations ends under a grey cloud

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Vernon Adams Jr. spun, scrambled and heaved, his desperation pass soaring into the end zone at Mosaic Stadium. Rolan Milligan Jr., the presumptive league defensive MOP, stepped in front of Alexander Hollins for the interception.

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Drive over.

Game over.

Season over.

A season that began full of Grey Cup aspirations for the B.C. Lions will end under a gloomy cloud of questions after their 28-19 West Semifinal loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

That pass was likely the last Adams will throw as a member of the Lions, with the question that surrounds him not if he stays, but where he’ll land next season. No definitive decision has been announced, but he seemed resigned to his fate weeks ago — even after he was named starter for the regular-season finale.

“It was tough in the locker room for me just now, just potentially my last game here as a B.C. Lion,” said Adams, who was 20-of-33 for 317 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions on Saturday.

“We all worked so hard, dating back to the off-season, and just ups and downs through this year. And you know, it was tough, it was tough. But I love those guys that gave it our all. We had too many missed opportunities on offence … and that’s it. We just didn’t make enough plays.”

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There are questions to be asked of the coaching staff, too. In a year in which they were given all the talent and money to shape a title-winning roster, the best they could manage was a third-place finish and a .500 record.

Hindsight is acknowledging the quarterback juggling with the return of Nathan Rourke from the NFL and Adams, the injured starter, that should have been handled differently. Or that Mathieu Betts didn’t return to his MODP form when he came back from the NFL, the knowledge that kick returner Janarion Grant, a finalist for the CFL’s most outstanding special team player, could have been had for dirt cheap at the outset of 2025, or that their two top offensive players from last season (Hollins, Keon Hatcher) didn’t return to that level of performance.

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But few questions about the future have been answered yet.

What will happen with running back William Stanback? He was brought in to give a juiceless running game some flavour, and responded with a 1,175 yard season — second most in the CFL and one yard off his best year in Montreal. He gave the offence much-needed balance and pass protection that was missed in the previous season.

Will Betts and what will be a big-ticket contract be back in B.C. next year? After returning from the Detroit Lions midseason, Betts had two sacks and an interception in seven games. But can they afford his services, knowing that they also have to fill out a roster around quarterback Nathan Rourke, who is due around $750,000 next year.

The B.C. pass rush wasn’t good enough to protect a secondary that couldn’t match the top teams in man coverage, forcing them to play a zone that a good quarterback with time could dissect.

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Saskatchewan’s Trevor Harris was 26-of-33 for 279 yards and one touchdown on Saturday, consistently hitting receivers sitting in soft spots in zone coverage and only getting sacked once, on a second-and-nine midway through the fourth quarter.

Although they only scored three touchdowns on 12 drives, the Riders dominated the time of possession 34:48-25:12 with their ability to move the ball. B.C., on the other hand, was just 8-of-18 on second down conversions.

“We had opportunities. It was the type of game I kind of was hoping for,” coach Rick Campbell said. “Going into the second half, the game’s tied, and it’s all there for the taking. We had some opportunities on offence and defence to make some plays to swing the game, and we didn’t.

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“They’re disappointed,” he said of the post-game locker-room. “You’re going to hurt when there’s a finality to it. Our heart was in the right place. The want-to was there. We just didn’t end up making plays to win the game.

“It’s tough in playoffs, it’s such an abrupt ending. You’re just going for weeks on end, for months and months and doing football, and then all of a sudden it’s like, ‘who are we playing next week?’ And now we’re not. It’s part of the (harsh) reality of it all.”

The Riders were a story in resilience this year; a nine-game stretch that saw them win just once was followed by a four-game win streak that saw them jump over B.C. into second place in the West. That gave them the all-important home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs, and a stadium full of toque-wearing Gang Green in full throat that did its part to disrupt the Leos offence.

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B.C. had it’s own swoon songs his year, losing five in a row in July and August, then dropping three of their final five games. Adams’ injury was supposed to have been mitigated by Rourke’s return from the NFL, but it proved too big of an ask for Rourke to be the midseason saviour. With a full off-season under his belt to fully flip back into three-down mode and build chemistry and timing with his teammates before even getting to training camp will be massive for Rourke’s 2025 season.

Who will those teammates be? More questions.

“(Football) is a 12-month activity these days,” Campbell said, when asked what tomorrow brings.

“You start working toward next season, signing people and figuring out coaches and players and doing all those things. You keep going.

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“I’m sure optimistic about B.C.; I love being in Vancouver and with the Lions and with Amar (Doman) and everything that’s going on. There’s a lot of hope for the future. And so we’ll start that process tomorrow, which is amazing. It’s amazing how fast this transitions.”

The line of scrimmage will once again be an area of attention. While the Lions had the second-most sacks (39) in the CFL, getting enough pressure without resorting to blitzing was a recurring issue this year, along with inconsistent tackling. It meant as a unit they gave up the highest QB pass efficiency in the league (107.2).

On the other side of the ball, Lions QBs were sacked a league-high 43 times behind a banged-up line that never quite coalesced this season, leading to the third-lowest efficiency rating in the league (93.2)

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Hatcher and Hollins were two of the CFL’s most dynamic pass-catchers in 2023, ranking second and fourth in receiving yardage that year. This year, Hatcher didn’t return until August, recovering from off-season Achilles surgery, and didn’t crack triple digits in receiving until the final regular season game. Hollins was dazzling for the first five games of this year, then faded away. Both are under contract for next season.

A 5-1 start to 2024 had heads giddy with excitement and visions of beating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers — finally! — in the West and playing in a Grey Cup at B.C. Place in November. Now those thoughts will turn to a long off-season, searching for answers.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow, but, I mean, it’s football, right? Only one team wins everything,” said halfback TJ Lee, whose contract expires this year.

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“That was my message to the guys. Only one team wins, and it’s not us this year. I (went) around and thanked them individually for their sacrifice. Thank you for sacrificing everything for your team and buying in. It just wasn’t enough this year, and that was my message.”

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