The Calgary Stampeders did everything they could Saturday. Now their season is in the hands of the team they just handled.
Calgary’s emphatic 32-13 victory over the BC Lions at McMahon Stadium kept its playoff hopes alive and completed a 9-9 regular season. But with the Stampeders on a Week 21 bye, their route into the post-season runs through Friday’s game between B.C. and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
The equation is simple: Calgary needs a Lions victory. Winnipeg enters its finale at 8-9 and owns the season-series tiebreaker over the Stampeders after winning two of three meetings. A Bombers win would leave Winnipeg and Calgary tied at 9-9 but put Winnipeg above the Stamps and knock Calgary out. A B.C. win would eliminate the Bombers and send Calgary through.
That is an unusual place for a team that finally found its best football down the stretch.
“We could have helped ourselves out earlier in the year,” quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. told Stamps TV after Saturday’s win. “You can’t go back on it. So it is what it is, and we’re just going to sit back and see what happens.”
The rest of the West took shape during the weekend. Edmonton’s 35-27 win over Winnipeg secured first place for the 13-4 Elks and helped B.C., now 10-7, lock up second. Saskatchewan rallied to beat Montreal 16-12 and clinched a playoff berth at 9-8, forcing Calgary to win its finale just to remain alive.
Calgary answered with its most complete performance in weeks. The Stampeders held B.C. scoreless after halftime, breaking open a 13-13 game with 19 unanswered points. Adams passed for 324 yards and found Ajou Ajou for a fourth-quarter touchdown, Quincy Vaughn scored twice on short-yardage runs and Rene Paredes made four field goals in the final regular-season game of his illustrious CFL career.
The result gave Calgary four wins in its final five games. The lone loss was a 33-28 setback in Winnipeg, a result that now looms especially large because of the tiebreaker it helped secure for the Bombers.
Adams believes the late surge is more than cosmetic.
“I think we won four of the last five, so I feel like we’ve been playing really good football,” he told Stamps TV. “Hopefully, if we do get in, we can continue that and keep playing our best football going into November.”
The predicament also shows how quickly the CFL’s playoff bar has moved. Calgary reached the post-season at 6-12 in 2023, while 10-8 was required to qualify in 2025. Nine victories had been enough for nearly three decades before that. This year, nine may still carry the Stampeders into November, but only if another club supplies the final assist. The turnaround therefore deserves credit without erasing the damage from a 5-8 start: close early losses became a bill Calgary could not pay entirely by itself late down the stretch.
If Calgary qualifies, its destination will depend on Saskatchewan’s final result. The Stampeders could finish third in the West and visit B.C. in the division semifinal, or cross over as the West’s fourth seed to face Toronto in the East semifinal. Either route would require three post-season wins to capture the Grey Cup at McMahon Stadium on Nov. 15.
That possibility makes the waiting harder. It also means Saturday may not have been only a season finale. It may have been the final game of Paredes’ 15-year career, all with Calgary.
“I don’t think I’ve seen it in 15 years,” Paredes told Stamps TV of the uncertainty. “We took care of our job. We got to 9-9, and all we can do is wait until next week. Hopefully, we have a shot at playoffs. I think this team could make a push.”
The Stampeders have a case. Adams is playing well, the offence has scored at least 28 points in five straight games and the defence just shut out a playoff-bound opponent for an entire half. Calgary also won the season series against Saskatchewan, an important detail if both finish 9-9.
There are cautions. B.C. had already clinched second before kickoff, and starting quarterback Nathan Rourke played only the first half. The Lions began protecting key players as the game progressed. Calgary’s late-season form is real, but Saturday was not a playoff-intensity test from both sidelines.
Still, the Stamps survived the weekend. Their reward is several days of practice, scoreboard watching and no control over the outcome that matters most.
For one night, Calgary handled its business. On Friday, it must hope the Lions handle theirs.
