Despite starting the season 0-8, changing head coaches, switching quarterbacks, and sitting at 3-10 with just five games to play the Hamilton Tiger-Cats can still make the playoffs.
(Insert chuckle here)
Has this not been the most unbelievable season since, like ever? I mean, if I told you at the start of the 2017 CFL season that Hamilton will start the month of October with just three victories and still have a chance to make the playoffs we all would have laughed.
LOL, well, it’s no joke.
The Ticats head to Winnipeg Friday night with another shot at improving their chances of doing the unthinkable, that is, to become the first team ever to make the post-season after losing their first eight games.
I’m not saying that it’s going to be easy. Far from it, actually. The Blue Bombers are the CFL’s feel-good story of the year. Winnipeg is 10-3 after winning eight of their last nine games and have averaged 34 points during that impressive stretch.
Next week, the Tiger-Cats return home to take on the 12-1-1 Calgary Stampeders who will be well rested coming off their bye week. Hamilton ends the season with games in Montreal, Ottawa and then at home to the Alouettes.
Catching East Division-leading Toronto is mathematically possible, but realistically, it’s out of the question especially after losing the season series against the Argonauts.
Sitting five points behind second-place Ottawa with two games in hand, and knowing a Western team is going to cross over come playoff time, the Cats are hunting down the Redblacks.
The defending Grey Cup champions visit the B.C. Lions and Saskatchewan Roughriders before closing out their campaign at home vs. Hamilton. If the Redblacks don’t eliminate the Ticats in that game they may be forced to watch the Alouettes play spoiler in the season finale at Tim Hortons Field.
Now, the odds of that happening are still slim to none, but if it were to ever happen, this might just be the year.
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