Everyone who was fooled by the Edmonton Elks this year, raise their hand.
For the record, I have to type this column with one hand because my other one is firmly in the air.
They got me.
They got me good.
I actually allowed myself to think this was going to be it. The year they finally shook off the maniacal monkey that’s seen them miss playoffs every year since the COVID-cancelled season of 2020.
But after these past two weeks, that big ol’ ape is still firmly draped across the proverbial back of the double-E, who barely bothered to show up, if at all, in back-to-back losses to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
It could have been for all the marbles too, which seemed utterly incredulous for a team that started the season out 0-7.
Yet there they were, in a position to possibly force a three-way tie at 9-9 in the race for first place in the West Division — a place Edmonton has been all too unfamiliar with since the 2015 Grey Cup season.
Oh, they looked good too, after having rung up five wins over the previous six weeks. And were coming in off of a bye, to boot.
But the full-blown blaze ended in barely a fizzle, as it would take nothing short of a modern-day miracle for this feeble football club to avoid watching the post-season proceedings on television for the fourth year in a row.
THE DOWNFALL
The Elks couldn’t get out of their own way when it came to fumbling the momentum that saw them claw back from yet another disastrous start to the season, to winning five of six games and force their way back into the playoff conversation.
Then a poorly timed bye week delivered a hit to the roll they’d been on.
That wasn’t their fault.
Then the decision was made to bench McLeod Bethel-Thompson, despite being the first Edmonton quarterback in 20 years to sweep a Labour Day Series, in favour of young Canadian pivot Tre Ford.
And that one was squarely on them.
Any semblance of forward motion the Elks earned heading into the bye week dissipated in a 27-14 loss to the Bombers in the first of two consecutive meetings.
Realizing their mistake and going back to Bethel-Thompson — who had to have been spinning from the club’s self-imposed ‘QB controversy’ — proved yet another mistake. Or at least too little, too late as the Elks were doubled up by a combined 82-41 in these last two losses.
The Bombers strengthened their grasp on first place with their seventh straight win, while at the same time punching their playoff ticket in the West (where the Elks haven’t made a post-season appearance in their own division since all the way back in 2017).
PLAYOFF PICTURE
Edmonton, meanwhile, is left with little in the way of hope as they finish out their remaining three games needing absolutely everything to go their way, while at the same time having nothing go right for their opponents.
At 5-10, their only way in now is through the B.C. Lions, who sit 7-8 as losers of their past two games, as well.
The good news is Edmonton holds the tiebreaker, if they both end up tied in the end.
The bad news for them is in order for that to happen, they would have to win against the Calgary Stampeders on the road (Could happen) and then one of either the Saskatchewan Roughriders or Toronto Argonauts at home (Could happen), while also needing the Lions to go winless three more times (Probably not going to happen).
The Lions face the Stampeders at home, the Roughriders on the road and then end off with a visit from the league-leading Montreal Alouettes, who will quite likely have things all wrapped up by then and have the luxury of resting the royalty on their roster. Much to the Lions’ delight.
TWO STEPS BACK
The Elks have gone from losing too many games by a last-minute field goal early in the season, to losing these last two games by too much to even make sense.
Chris Jones was fired as head coach and general manager after going 0-5 to start the year, defeated by a combined 20 points after all but one of those games was determined by a three points.
Last week, they lost to the Bombers by 28 points.
In one game.
And that one was over before it even began.
Jones’s interim replacement, offensive co-ordinator Jarious Jackson, gets credit for taking this roster on a bit of a run through the win column. But his limitations became apparent at the most crucial point in the season.
With a potential playoff position teetering on the brink, the Elks completely dropped the ball, looking woefully unprepared against a Bombers squad that didn’t look quite like its dominant self this season. Until now, that is. All it took was running into the Elks.
COACHING CH-CH-CH-CHANGES?
There is no reason to remove the interim tag from Jackson’s title or bring him back with an off-season contract extension, meaning the Elks are looking at what would be their sixth different head coach in seven years since making their last playoff appearance in 2019.
That year, if you recall, ended with the firing of Jason Maas, who had only been able to guide the team to three divisional finals in four years.
What’s followed has been the very definition of spinning tires and going nowhere.
But do the Elks really want to start over? Again?
Perhaps bringing back the interim head coach, along with interim general manager Geroy Simon, would be their best bet at having some sort of continuity between whatever good comes out of this year spill over into the next.
Then again, Jones had been given a couple of restarts since his return to the fold, and look where that got them: From 4-14 to 4-14 to 0-5, before Jackson steered them to a 5-5 record thus far.
That being said, Jackson has done more in his half season at the helm than his predecessors did over the past three years, including Jaime Elizondo’s 3-11 mark in 2021.
While the bar had been set remarkably low at five wins, Jackson was the only one able to hit it. Albeit with Jones’s roster, but that’s a story for another day.
Elk droppings: The Elks are 2-5 at home and 3-5 on the road, while going 4-4 in their division and a league-worst 1-6 against East Division opponents … The Elks continue to the league in offensive points (28.1 per game), but sit second to Toronto in points scored (28.4 per game) … Edmonton’s 376 yards per game leads the West Division … After a brief week of respite, the Elks are back at the bottom of the barrel in net yards of offence surrendered (393 per game) and continue to allow the most passing yards (310 per game) … Edmonton’s 29 passing touchdowns allowed are a league worst … The Elks allow a league high success rate of 53.5 per cent on opponents’ second-down conversions … Edmonton’s 21 interceptions earned continues to lead the league … The Elks’ field-goal conversion of 77.1 per cent is the worst in the CFL, while their punt-return average improved from 9.3 yards to 9.4 yards this week, to climb out of last place ahead of Saskatchewan … Edmonton’s 70.1-yard kickoff average leads the league … Justin Rankin’s (7.8-yards per carry) and Javon Leake (6.3 yards per carry) sit No. 1 and 2 overall in league rushing, while Tevin Jones’ 22.6 yards per catch continues to stand as a league high. He also has the two longest receptions of the year at 93 and 81 yards, though the later distance is now shared with Saskatchewan’s Kian Schaffer-Baker … Nyles Morgan sits four tackles behind Darnell Sankey (95) of the Montreal Alouettes for the league lead … Jake Julien leads the league with a punt average of 54.4 yards and net punt average of 40.5 yards.
E-mail: [email protected]
On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge
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