The opportunities to win championships in professional sports come around only so often — even in the nine-team CFL.
Alouettes general manager Danny Maciocia realizes his team squandered a glorious chance last season to repeat as Grey Cup champs — especially after watching Toronto, the team Montreal barely lost to in the East Division final — defeat the imploding Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
The Als committed five turnovers during their 30-28 loss to the Argonauts at Molson Stadium. One week later, Toronto pulled away from Winnipeg in the second half, cruising to a 41-24 victory. With a 12-5-1 regular-season record, many in the Als organization justifiably believed they were the league’s best team in 2024.
“Right after we lost the game against Toronto, I was more in a state where I was numb, just trying to figure out what happened, considering the way we played and the number of turnovers,” Maciocia said on Tuesday morning during a video conference call from Charlotte, N.C., part of the CFL’s winter meetings held in conjunction with the American Football Coaches Association convention.
“After the Grey Cup I felt there was an opportunity that was squandered there,” he continued. “There comes a point in time where you have to put that behind you and flush it out of your system. There’s a lot to be learned from that game. Overall we had a pretty good season.”
Good, but not good enough as the Als went from the hunter to being the hunted.
Montreal concluded its championship season with eight consecutive victories, then began 2024 with a 5-0 record. But the Als weren’t the same team a year later and stumbled into the division final not playing their best football. Montreal’s record was 2-4-1 from September when, it can be argued, the real season begins.
Instead, it was the galvanized Argos who rode their momentum to a title.
“There’s something to be said about how you handle success,” Maciocia admitted. “Probably those last few weeks going into post-season play, when we had wrapped up (the division), I don’t think we necessarily played our best football. If we’re ever in that same predicament, having experienced it, hopefully will make us better for it moving forward.”
While that’s a story for another day, the most compelling scenario heading into the season will be the organization’s shift at quarterback — the Als electing to move on from veteran Cody Fajardo, the 2023 Cup’s most valuable player, to Davis Alexander, 26, who played well last season when called upon but remains relatively inexperienced.
Alexander will be backed up by veteran McLeod Bethel-Thompson, acquired from Edmonton in the Fajardo trade.
“Davis Alexander has been in the program three years. In my eyes, he has always been the future for our organization moving forward,” Maciocia said. “I think we have enough data on him that we feel quite confident turning it over to him. What was important was to have a backup with some experience, especially the first year. Bethel-Thompson has won his share of games. We think he’ll be a great mentor to Davis.
“You need a (backup) that can win you two or three games, knowing full well there’s injuries that take place at that position. I don’t know that there are too many better (backups). The reality is we’ve got a 1A and 1B. We like what we have at that position. I think it’s a position of strength and there’s no shortage of depth there.”
With CFL free agency looming on Feb. 11, Maciocia has worked diligently re-signing many of the team’s starters, including tailback Walter Fletcher and defensive-backs Kabion Ento, Najee Murray and Wesley Sutton. However some significant players remain unsigned — notably Canadian receiver Kaion Julien-Grant, return-specialist James Letcher Jr., and linebacker Reggie Stubblefield, who missed most of last season with a torn ACL.
While Julien-Grant also has a history of injuries, he’s a talented pass catcher and ratio changer. He won’t be easy to replace should he test the market, and few conversations have occurred between Maciocia and the player’s agent.
“He hasn’t told me that he wants to test the market,” Maciocia said. “We’d like to have them all back if we can make it fit. You have an envelope with so much money in it. You have to distribute it accordingly, based on priority, needs and production. The ones you can’t bring back because you can’t make it fit (financially) … how are we going to replace them?
“Those are all quality players. If they’re not playing in Montreal they’ll be playing elsewhere in the CFL.”