CFL Update for the Thanksgiving Weekend - October 12, 2026

      

The CFL season is winding down. Teams are making a final push to try and qualify for the playoffs. Or, in Ottawa's case, to notch their first win of the season and eliminate the distinct possibility of going winless throughout the season.

Let's take a look at what happened on Thanksgiving weekend of October in the CFL:

Edmonton 27, Hamilton 12 - The Elks have really come on strong this season. They see how the BC Lions have gotten hot, and knew that they needed a win this weekend. And they went out and earned one, beating the struggling Hamilton Tigercats convincingly. With the win, Edmonton improves to 12-4 on the season. meanwhile, Hamilton falls to 5-12 on the year. But they had already been eliminated from playoff contention. 

BC Lions 41, Ottawa 20 - The Lions are the hottest team in the CFL right now. And they keep winning and winning. Granted, they beat the winless and hapless Ottawa Redblacks, who are now flirting with a historical winless season. They fell to 0-16 with their 22nd straight loss. The 0-16 start now ranks as the worst start to any CFL season in modern history. And 22 straight losses is approaching the all-time record, as well. Nor did Ottawa really make much of a game of this one at any point. The BC Lions took control of the game early and never really relinquished the lead. With the win, the Lions improve to 10-6 and are virtually guaranteed a spot in the playoffs. Given how hot they are, I doubt that anyone will be eager to face them there, for that matter.

Winnipeg 33. Calgary 28 - The Blue Bombers suddenly found themselves in trouble, and actually briefly fell below Calgary for last place. In a tough game where both teams really showed something, Winnipeg managed to come up with the win, which was huge. It improves their overall record to 8-8, so they no longer have a losing record. Also, they are now tied again with Saskatchewan for third overall in the West Division, which helps them quite a bit in the playoff push. Meanwhile, the loss ended Calgary's relative hot streak, as they fall back to a losing record in their own right, now at 8-9 and with one game left for them in the CFL season.

Montreal 44, Saskatchewan 24 - The Alouettes have pretty much been the best team in the CFL throughout the regular season. And on Thanksgiving Monday, they showed why, dominating the Roughriders and earning another solid win to improve to a league best 13-3 record on the year. Meanwhile, Saskatchewan is heading in the complete other direction, suffering their fourth straight loss. The playoffs once seemed like an automatic conclusion for them, but that is no longer the case. They likely should still make it, but they are making it as suspenseful as possible by continually losing. And they really did not look that impressive in this loss.