B.C. await playoff fate after 45-13 loss in regular-season finale against Edmonton, who clinch playoff berth with win
The Edmonton Eskimos and Hamilton Tiger-Cats qualified for the CFL playoffs on Friday, leaving the B.C. Lions hanging by a thread.
The Lions (8-10) were humiliated 45-13 by Edmonton in final regular-season game for both teams, and the final game under the big white top of B.C. Place Stadium. The Eskimos (9-9) clinched third place in the West Division, and the Tiger-Cats (8-9) earned a berth in the East Division playoffs.
B.C. needs Hamilton to beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Sunday, or will miss the postseason for the first time since 1996. Winnipeg advances with a win.
“We don’t have to sit in front of the TV this weekend," said Eskimos rookie running back Arkee Whitlock, who gained 226 total yards and scored two touchdowns.
The Lions have been reduced to observers, and are contemplating some surreal scenarios.
Wally Buono, the model of consistency, could miss the playoffs for only the second time in 20 years and the first time since becoming B.C. general manager and head coach in 2003. If B.C. slips in the back door, Buono may be down to two healthy quarterbacks next week.
Five passers were needed to stumble through 2009, including scout-teamer Zac Champion, who was asked – impossibly – to save the game Friday after Casey Printers and Buck Pierce were lost to injury before halftime.
“We knew it was our game in the second quarter," Edmonton linebacker Maurice Lloyd said. “We knew we had a great chance of blowing this team out if we played the way the Eskimos can play.
“When you see a No. 3 quarterback come in, who hasn’t played a game, it’s lunch time. It’s time to eat."
The Lions were flat – particularly on defence – and fell to 4-5 inside the dome this year. They were embarrassed for a third time at home, and by last call, most of the 31,151 had fled, leaving empty blue seats.
“Honestly, I wasn’t surprised," Buono said, citing a flu that spread through the team earlier this week. “I felt a certain fatigue. I felt a certain numbness.
“You hope when the game comes around you can overcome all that, but when you see both quarterbacks get nicked, it kind of takes a little air out of the balloon. Edmonton cam in here fired up and we couldn’t match that.
“On top of all that, I got the impression we just lost hope."
Buono’s club will move outdoors to a temporary facility at the former site of Empire Stadium for 2010, while 26-year-old B.C. Place undergoes a $458-million renovation. By 2011, when the Lions are scheduled to return to the stadium, it will have been fitted with a retractable roof, which will replace the air-supported bubble that has defined Vancouver’s skyline since 1983.
Perhaps open surroundings will release the Curse of the Quarterback, which has plagued the home team since its last Grey Cup in 2006. Since then, keeping pivots upright has been a challenge, and B.C. Place’s last bow was no different.
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