With the B.C. Lions sliding into the 2026 season at 0-2, the team faces a defining early-season test in Kelowna against the also-winless Calgary Stampeders. Injuries to key receivers, defensive struggles, and a punishing points against total have quickly turne
When the B.C. Lions walk into the Apple Bowl in Kelowna on Saturday, they’re doing it with a familiar kind of dread. It’s not just the record—0-2 to start 2026. It’s the fact that their last Grey Cup win back in 2011 came after a start that mirrored the kind of hole they’re digging right now: the Lions opened that season 0-5.
This time, the stakes feel immediate. The Lions host the Calgary Stampeders, who are also 0-2, in what has become a big early touchstone at the start of the campaign. Two teams searching for answers will share the field, and only one leaves with the feeling that the season can still be steered.
B.C. head coach and offensive co-ordinator Buck Pierce doesn’t dress it up. “I think the concern is kind of just where we sit right now,” Pierce told reporters this week. He said the team expected to be further along. but stressed that the work has to start during the week and across all phases. “Nobody’s happy with where we are right now,” Pierce said. “The matter of fact is we’ve got to get better.”.
He pointed to the need for improvement beyond game day—where execution is shaped, corrected, and pushed. “It’s got to start during the week and it’s got to start in all phases,” Pierce said, adding that until the Lions do that, they’ll keep fighting and claw while leaning into the process.
On offence, the Lions’ problems are tied to a brutal injury stretch. Nathan Rourke, the CFL’s reigning most outstanding player, is missing many of his usual targets after B.C. has been hit hard at receiver. In the opener against Saskatchewan, the Lions lost four pass-catchers. Then, last week in Hamilton, Justin McInnis went down with an ankle injury, and Kieran Poissant suffered a hip injury.
The running game hasn’t helped the rhythm either. James Butler has been held to 97 yards in two games after finishing third in the league in rushing yards last year.
Pierce still insists on a next-man-up posture. “You hear it all the time, sometimes it’s coach-speak, but it’s next man up,” he said. He credited the approach for giving other players chances to lead and step into roles, saying it will “pay dividends in the end.”
One of those players is Nick Cenacle. The Montreal native, a fifth-round pick who played NCAA football at Hawaii, caught nine passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns in his CFL debut last week.
Defence, though, is where the early anxiety has gone from discomfort to something closer to alarm. The Lions entered the season with concerns, and the results haven’t offered relief. B.C. is last by a wide margin in opponent passing efficiency and has allowed 72 points in two games—an average worse than everyone but Ottawa.
Those numbers put Lions defensive co-ordinator Mike Benevides under the microscope. Lions defensive back Jackson Findlay didn’t try to deflect it. “I think it’s hard for a fan to take into account how big of an impact he makes on us and what he does for us. ” Findlay told reporters. He said Benevides is a great co-ordinator, that he trusts what Benevides does, and that Benevides trusts the players’ abilities.
But trust and points against are two different things, and the Lions know the time to fix it is now.
After opening with two road losses, B.C. has two straight games in Kelowna, with the World Cup taking over BC Place. The Lions and Stampeders finished second and third. respectively. in the West last year. and the loser of Saturday’s matchup will find itself staring directly at the basement. In a season where the Edmonton Elks—division’s worst or second-worst team over the past seven seasons—appear much better. falling behind early becomes more than a bad start. It becomes a posture.
Kelowna itself is ready for the moment. With close to 20. 000 fans expected for both games at an expanded Apple Bowl—after the city hosted the Memorial Cup—the Lions are aiming to turn attention into momentum. Pierce said the team is excited to compete in front of its fans at “an amazing venue. ” adding. “It’s going to be great for our team. it’s going to be great for the province of British Columbia.”.
The Lions’ next two tests could decide how quickly the injuries and defensive concerns harden into something harder to climb out of.
The wider CFL schedule also keeps the pressure circulating.
In the next night’s game. the Edmonton Elks (2-0) visit the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (1-1) on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. ET / 7:30 p.m. CT. Winnipeg has won eight straight at home against Edmonton. but the Blue Bombers are dealing with a major early-season gap on the ground: Winnipeg has the league’s worst rush defence so far. They’ll also face CFL leading rusher Justin Rankin, averaging 9.1 yards per carry.
On Friday, the Toronto Argonauts (1-1) play the Saskatchewan Roughriders (2-0) at 9 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CST. It’s the first of three Argos home games being played in the road venue while the World Cup takes over their home stadium. Chad Kelly enters looking to become the fourth quarterback in league history to throw for 400-plus yards in three straight games.
Then on Sunday at 7 p.m. ET, the Ottawa Redblacks (0-2) visit the Montreal Alouettes (2-1). Montreal has won 11 straight against Ottawa, and the Als QB Davis Alexander is coming off his first career regular-season loss—dropping his record to 13-1.
In another major development, a quarterback reshuffle in Ottawa and Winnipeg has added its own ripple across the league. New Redblacks general manager and coach Ryan Dinwiddie traded backup Dru Brown and a second-round pick in the 2027 draft to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for a first-round pick in 2027 and a conditional second-round pick in 2028. The Redblacks then signed veteran quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson. who won a Grey Cup with Dinwiddie as the starter for Toronto in 2022 before going 6-15 as a starter over his last two years with Edmonton and Montreal.
Brown had been the starter in Ottawa the past two years after a three-year run behind Zach Collaros in Winnipeg. Under Dinwiddie, Brown lost his job to free-agent signing Jake Maier. Brown requested a move after that decision.
Dinwiddie said practice evaluation drives the choice, pointing specifically to arm strength and the ability to eat up big chunks of yards. He told reporters Wednesday that the Redblacks want to be able to push the ball downfield and that Jake gives that opportunity, while saying McLeod does as well.
Dinwiddie was asked if the quarterbacking situation was a distraction. He said it wasn’t a big one, but that it was “probably a little distraction” based on how Brown went about it. Dinwiddie said Brown did his best to support Jake and wanted to go elsewhere; the Redblacks gave him the chance.
For Brown, the move returns him to his original CFL home as a veteran presence behind Collaros, while strong-armed Canadian rookie Taylor Elgersma becomes No. 3. Brown also reunites with former Ottawa offensive co-ordinator Tommy Condell.
Winnipeg coach Mike O’Shea framed the deal as adding a young football junkie who loves the game, saying the Blue Bombers know him well, that he has been in the building before, and that he is in Tommy’s system—bringing experience that’s “positive.”
Back to B.C., though, the story is simpler and sharper: the Lions are 0-2, and on Saturday they face a team doing the same thing—Calgary is also searching for traction at 0-2.
With injuries cutting down Rourke’s usual connections. a running game struggling to get going. and a defence that has allowed 72 points in two games. this week isn’t just another early-season assignment. It’s the kind of game where you can feel whether the turnaround is starting—or whether the hole is getting deeper.
B.C. Lions Calgary Stampeders Kelowna CFL 2026 Buck Pierce Mike Benevides Nathan Rourke Nick Cenacle Justin McInnis Kieran Poissant James Butler Jackson Findlay Dru Brown Ryan Dinwiddie McLeod Bethel-Thompson Jake Maier Tommy Condell Zach Collaros Taylor Elgersma