The Edmonton Elks set the all-time North American professional sports record with their 21st consecutive home loss after losing 27-0 against the B.C. Lions on Saturday night.
The previous record of 20 consecutive home losses was initially set by Major League Baseball’s St. Louis Browns in 1953. That team was sold and relocated to Baltimore that offseason, becoming the modern-day Orioles. The Elks tied that record in Week 6 when they lost 37-29 to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Lions’ rookie running back Taquan Mizzell gashed the Elks’ defence for 117 yards on the ground and scored his first career CFL touchdown on a 23-yard third quarterback touchdown pass from Dane Evans.
Evans had himself a game as well, throwing for 330 yards and two scores in his first start of the season. He spread the ball around, completing passes to six different receivers.
The Lions opened the scoring midway through the first quarter when Sean Whyte connected on a 26-yard field goal and followed that up with a 16-yarder to make the score 6-0 after the first 15 minutes.
B.C. would find the end zone for the first time with a little over five minutes left in the first half when Evans found Justin McInnis for the 23-yard score. The Lions would tack on a third Whyte field goal to take a 16-0 lead into the break.
The second half did not go much better, as the Lions added their second touchdown on the Evans-to-Mizzell connection to make it 23-0. A punt single and fourth Whyte field goal gave us our 27-0 final score.
This was the second time this season the Elks have been shutout the Lions. B.C. won 22-0 when the two teams met in Week 2 in Vancouver. That loss was Edmonton’s first shutout defeat in 47 years.
Edmonton already set the professional football record for the longest consecutive home losing streak in October 2022, passing the 1987-88 Ottawa Rough Riders, 1988-89 Dallas Cowboys, and 2008-10 St. Louis Rams at 14 games apiece. The team has since lost seven more home games and surpassed record holders from the NHL (2003-04 Pittsburgh Penguins, 14) and NBA (1993-94 Dallas Mavericks, 19).
Edmonton’s last victory at Commonwealth came on October 12, 2019 — 1,386 days ago — against the B.C. Lions. The intervening years have included an organizational name change, a global pandemic and four separate head coaches — Jason Maas, Scott Milanovich (who never coached a game), Jaime Elizondo, and now Chris Jones. None have been able to deliver a win for the hometown crowd.
Along with breaking the record, Edmonton fell to 0-8 for the first time in modern franchise history. The Elks will have their work cut out for them if they hope to end the streak at 21. Their next home game is against the 5-2 Winnipeg Blue Bombers on August 10.
