A Look at the CFL Through Week 3 & A Peek Into Week 4

Often times, I look at this time of the year - very late June, July, and into August, as a slow time in the sports calendar. However, we have MLS going, Wimbledon is taking place right now, and if you are a baseball fan (which admittedly, I am not), you have that, also. But there is something else. Another Canadian Football League (CFL) season is underway. And it seemed like a good idea to take a look and see what is going on, what the trends are, even just three weeks in.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are the defending Gray Cup champions, having won back-to-back titles. They are one of three teams - yes, count 'em, three - teams that raced off to fast, undefeated starts. All three of the teams are in the West Division. They and the Calgary Stampeders each sport an impressive 3-0 record, while the British Columbia Lions are currently 2-0, and coming off a whopping 44-3 victory over the previously unbeaten Toronto Argonauts, who currently have the best record in the East Division at only 1-1 (yikes!). 

Yes, the West has those three unbeaten teams, as well as the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who are currently 2-1. So you can make the argument that, at least to this point, the four best teams in the CFL, and certainly, without argument, the four teams with the best records in the league, are all our West. The one dismal team in the West right now would be the winless Edmonton Elk at 0-3.

The Argonauts are, again, first in the East, followed by the Montreal Alouettes at 1-2, and then two winless teams. Ottawa is 0-2, and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who went to the last two Gray Cup Finals, losing both times to Winnipeg, have stumbled out of the gates to an 0-3 start. 

Week 4 begins tomorrow, when the British Columbia Lions go east to Ottawa to take on the Red Blacks. On Friday, there will be a battle of winless teams when the Elks visit Hamilton. On Saturday, the Alouettes travel to Saskatchewan to take on the Roughriders. And on Monday night, the unbeaten Blue Bombers put their perfect record on the line in Toronto to face the Argonauts, who just got that severe beating in Vancouver, and hope to recover.