The Montreal Alouettes’ season was a rollercoaster at times, but when they got healthy, they were clearly one of the best teams in the CFL. They overcame adversity in the playoffs to make it to the 112th Grey Cup, but that’s where their season came to a halt. The Als dropped a 25-17 decision to the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Sunday night.
This game isn’t hard to break down. It came down to turnovers. The Alouettes gave the Riders the ball four times (three interceptions, one fumble), while Saskatchewan didn’t turn the ball over once.
“It’s frustrating,” special teams captain Alex Gagne said after the game. “We weren’t expecting to end up with the result we got. We had great chemistry in this locker room. Last year, we talked about the same thing. Even though we gave the Argonauts the ball often (in last year’s Eastern Final), we stayed in the game because we kept working. That’s what happened (on Sunday). We didn’t start off well, but we kept ourselves in the game. We believed until the very end.”
In Canadian football, the team that usually makes the fewest mistakes wins the game. And to overcome those mistakes, you need to be close to perfect down the stretch if you’re going to come back to win.
That didn’t happen for the Alouettes on Sunday.
It’ll be a long off-season of reflecting and thinking of what could’ve been for most of the Alouettes.
But nobody can deny that the foundation is in place to have sustained success for a good while.
Quarterback Davis Alexander just turned 27 years old in October. He’s already established himself as arguably the best player at his position in the CFL, and he’s under contract for two more years.
All-CFL receiver Tyler Snead signed a contract extension during the season, and several other key pieces are under contract for 2026.
As is the case with every CFL team, general manager Danny Maciocia will have some work to do. There are key free agents that can potentially hit the market in February, including starting left guard Pier-Olivier Lestage, receiver Tyson Philpot, linebacker Darnell Sankey, and others.
The roster will change in 2026. That much is inevitable, but the core and culture that has been built with the Als won’t be any different.
Is the Grey Cup loss tough to swallow? Absolutely. But what the front office has built is special and it should lead to more success in the coming years.