Many CFL stories will change between now and November 26th but if I had money to gamble, I’d roll the dice on the B.C. Lions to win the 105th Grey Cup.
As we enter the 2017 CFL season, I felt it only appropriate to put my money where my mouth is and let you all know in writing how this season is about to shake down so the evidence will remain online long after it’s done to continuously laud my ingenuity and blast my stupidity. Spoiler alert: I’ve already let the cat out of the bag for how this movie ends, but here’s what the feature presentation will look like for how we get there:
Bet on Big on BC to Win it All: 2017 CFL Predictions
West Division
1st place Calgary Stampeders (13 and 5)
Bo Levi Mitchell will pick up right where he left off in 2016 and fall just shy to pass for the six thousand yard club in his sixth straight year of improvement. The Stamps will continue to be the most hated team in the league and its most consistent. Not to mention the fact they play lightweight Saskatchewan three times which should be good for padding the stats in Cow town. Another dream season will result in more meaningless games at the end and lower their compete level just enough to become too rusty to fend off the Lions in the western final at McMahon Stadium.
2nd place BC Lions (12 and 6)
The Leos have no such luck. They only get two games against the lowly Roughriders. They will trade punches with Calgary and fight off tough challenges from Edmonton and Winnipeg all year long while running roughshod over the east division teams. Jonathan Jennings will dazzle with his brilliance once again only heightening speculation of a future in the NFL. This success and grind-it-out schedule will ready the Lions for an epic showdown at Calgary where they will win the western final and punch out their eastern opponent with ease. It will be the most one-sided Grey Cup since 2013 when the Roughriders pummeled the Tiger-Cats by 22 points in the final Grey Cup ever at Taylor Field.
3rd place Winnipeg Blue Bombers (10 and 8)
Matt Nichols proved he really was who said he was last year: a successful starting calibre CFL quarterback. Drew Willy’s 1 and 4 start—proving he wasn’t a starting calibre CFL QB– finally lost the patience of offensive coordinator Paul Lapolice, setting the stage for Nichols’ 10 and 3 finish. Nichols won’t be able to duplicate that over an 18-game season but will still be good enough to snag third-place again in a tough, tough CFL west. But alas, it will be an all too familiar end for the Blue Bombers who will, once again, come up short on semi-final Sunday in Vancouver.
4th place Edmonton Eskimos (7 and 11)
The evil empire has once again fallen on hard times. Just two years removed from their dream championship season, they already regressed one year by letting their head coach (Chris Jones) leave. They will regress some more this year after showing their general manager (Ed Hervey) the door. The loss of Derel Walker will hurt too. And so will the fact head coach Jason Maas worries more about what TSN viewers are hearing him say with a live mic, than he is about correcting a defence which took a big step backwards under his watch to the tune of 10 points per game. No crossover this year. Just a playoff miss is what will become of their season.
5th place Saskatchewan Roughriders (6 and 12)
Kevin Glenn starts the year under centre until his injuries and inconsistency mount enough to signal more playing for backups Brandon Bridge and Marquise Williams. Williams will ultimately win the job and lead the Riders for years to come. However, the bigger hurt will be watching Darian Durant succeed in Montreal.
EAST DIVISION
1st place Toronto Argonauts (10 and 8)
A team which had no general manager or head coach throughout the first weeks of free agency will pull off the best record in the east. Embarrassing as it may be for the league, the Argos will be Canadian footballs feel good story of 2017. Ricky Ray will look ten years younger and create a new buzz at BMO Field where suddenly there will be more fans than empty seats.
2nd place Montreal Alouettes (9 and 9)
Despite employing a general manager who appears in over his head— Kavis Reed has made some head-scratching moves to say the least—Jacques Chapdelaine becoming the Al’s first francophone head coach for an entire season in the past 30 years will be an unqualified success. Darian Durant will stick it to Chris Jones by winning the east final at home in front of a packed house at Molson Stadium and then upset the Argos in the east final in dancing all the way to the Grey Cup in our nation’s capital. Midnight will strike for this Cinderella story but after all the turmoil Alouette fans have endured lately, they’ll be just fine with it.
3rd place Ottawa Redblacks (7 and 11)
Trevor Harris won’t hold up over and 18-game season to produce consistently enough to fill shoes of the retired Henry Burris. Smilin Hank didn’t exactly set the world on fire last year either but his epic playing on one leg Grey Cup triumph and league Most Outstanding Player award from a season earlier will prove to be an insurmountable pile of pressure that young Harris just cannot live up to. The fact Burris will still be appearing on TV weekly to critique what the new quarterback does will only add to the misery. This team will sneak into the playoffs as weak spot on the bingo card. The dream for Ottawa fans to see their team repeat at home, just will not be.
4th place Hamilton Tiger-Cats (7 and 11)
Inconsistency against eastern foes and being downright overmatched versus the west will be too much for the tabbies to overcome. Perhaps the CFLs greatest owner will once again be left without a championship ring. He will stew on this for a month after the season and justify to himself if the current regime in steel town has what it takes to steer this ship back in the right direction.
August 25, 2016: Jonathon Jennings (10) of the BC Lions scrambles out of the pocket and looks to throw the ball against the Ottawa Redblacks in Canadian Football League action at TD Place Stadium in Ottawa, Canada. (Photo by Sean Burges/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
