Ottawa breaks record losing streak, Redblacks earn first win in 406 days (& 12 other thoughts on beating Toronto)

Photo: Gord Weber/3DownNation. All rights reserved.

After 22 consecutive losses — some soul-crushing, some deflating, and some plain depressing — the Ottawa Redblacks emerged from a 60-minute contest of Canadian football with more points than their opponent, thanks to a dramatic touchdown in the dying seconds of Friday night’s game.

Despite a series of self-inflicted wounds that included conceding a blocked punt, missed field goal, missed convert, and some killer drops in the fourth quarter, the Redblacks found a way to beat the visiting Toronto Argonauts by a score of 40-39, giving head coach Ryan Dinwiddie his inaugural victory in the nation’s capital.

For long-suffering members of R-Nation, including each and every one of those who made the trek out to Lansdowne despite having no real incentive to be there, the win will be forever etched in their memories.

After 406 days, here are my thoughts on a Redblacks victory.

I was (completely) wrong

Just because the team won and he looked stellar, I won’t pretend I agreed with the decision to start rookie quarterback Bryson Barnes. In recent weeks, as the team talked about wanting to give him an extended look, I argued that the organization should have been prioritizing trying to win a game with veteran McLeod Bethel-Thompson under centre to avoid making history as the first team in modern CFL history to go winless, as opposed to evaluating an inexperienced player at the game’s most important position.

My concern was that throwing a rookie onto the field with the organization on the precipice of a historical failure so galling that generations of fans would look back to point and laugh was setting him up for failure. Especially given that MBT had been managing the offence fairly effectively.

Well, what do I know eh? Who knew that the 20th guy to start at quarterback for the Redblacks’ franchise would be the one to end the losing streak that has been hanging over the team for more than a full calendar year?

Electric first act

The former Utah Ute and Utah State Aggie wasn’t just OK in his professional debut, Barnes was lights out and the reason the Redblacks won.

He started off hot, connecting on eight of his first nine passes. By half-time he had completed 79 percent of the passes he attempted and by the final whistle, he’d finished with gaudy stats for any quarterback, let alone one making his first CFL start. Barnes wound up passing for 339 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while rushing for another 62 yards. He also avoided turning the ball over, which was as important as anything else he did.

Most impressively, the weighty moments — situations when the game’s pressure was at its most intense — never felt too big for him. Given the ball on his own 21-yard line with 28 seconds remaining before half-time, Barnes orchestrated a five play, 44-yard drive to set up a field goal that tacked three points on the board.

And again at the end of the game, following a handful of wild momentum swings in the waning minutes, down six points and with less than 30 seconds on the clock, Barnes kept his composure. A short pass, a scramble and a strong 24-yard throw to the end zone later, Ottawa’s rookie sent TD Place into pandemonium.

Throughout the game, Barnes made good throw after good throw. He continually went through his reads and made quick decisions, showcasing a strong arm with plenty of tight throws. He kept the ball out of harm’s way and really only had a handful of misfires that landed incomplete purely due to an inaccurate throw. A number of other incompletions, three by my count, were the result of receivers dropping passes that hit them in the hands.

While he didn’t overly rely on his legs, his ability to keep the defence off-balance on draw plays was huge. When the pocket broke down and he looked to scramble, he was sacked multiple times. But when he used his legs to extend plays and kept his eyes downfield, he found receivers for completions.

The 21-yard scramble with 19 seconds left was his biggest run of the night. The only downside to his mobility was that he took a number of big shots. Going forward, ideally Barnes does a bit better of a job protecting himself.

In a season with so few highlights, fans should be careful about overreacting to a single performance, but Barnes was impressive. He’s surely done enough to merit being under centre for the team’s final game of the season in Hamilton.

What took so long?

Given how well Barnes played, the conversation amongst fans has flipped to wondering what took so long to get the rookie on the field. But if you simply go back and listen to what the Redblacks have said throughout the year, there’s not much mystery. Over the course of the season, when questioned about using Barnes, Dinwiddie repeatedly mentioned wanting to make sure they weren’t ruining his confidence by putting him on the field too early.

While you may believe the decision to give Jake Maier a dozen starts was four to five too many, it’s understandable why the team turned to MBT before Barnes if the idea was to give their rookie more time to acclimatize to the nuances of the Canadian game. Once MBT became the starter and had the offence looking better than it had all season, it made sense to continue starting him.

Since the team seemed determined to get Barnes a game or two under his belt, doing so in the confines of a friendly home-field makes more sense than doing so in a place like Hamilton, which is renowned for its rowdy fans.

All that said, had Maier gotten less starts, moving MBT into the lineup sooner, perhaps R-Nation would’ve gotten a look at Barnes earlier as well.

Well executed plan of attack

Two big benefits of naming Barnes the starter early in the week were that he got the majority of the reps in practice, and it allowed Dinwiddie to tailor his offensive game-plan to his skills.

The plan was apparent early, as the Redblacks leaned into the run game, a true rarity this season. More notably was that Dinwiddie chose to stick with running the ball, even when it failed to generate meaningful yardage. Having a balanced run to pass ratio, 21 runs to 37 passes, made the play-action passes, RPO plays (run-pass option) all the more effective. There was also some creativity with things like receivers doing inside reverses and end-arounds, and a couple of well-timed screens.

Overall, Ottawa generated 28 first downs while putting up 407 yards of offence and possessed the ball for over 33 minutes. Of their 14 possessions, nine ended in points, including their first six possessions, one ended in a missed field goal and only four resulted in punts. Significantly, when they got into the red zone, they finished drives, turning four trips into three touchdowns.

There’s always room for improvement, but as far as the offence has looked this season, it was one of the unit’s most encouraging outings.

Individual brilliance, collectively disappointing

Certain players on Jeff Reinebold’s defence contributed to the win, but collectively the unit continued to be a net negative against the Argos. In fact, the offensive performance mentioned above was very nearly wasted by their counterparts frittering a nine-point lead away in the game’s final seven minutes.

As has been the case most of the season, when the Redblacks’ defence was called upon to come up with a timely stop, they folded. Ottawa allowed Toronto to string together a seven play, 86-yard touchdown drive to cut the lead to two, and two possessions later they were unable to slow down the Argos on a six-play, 84-yard touchdown drive that gave them a six-point lead with 30 seconds left.

To be frank, the Argos likely win the game if they handle that final drive differently. After driving the ball down to the Redblacks’ four-yard line with only 33 seconds left in the game, Toronto could have run down the clock and lined up for a 12-yard field goal to win. Barring a botched snap, blocked kick or a sudden gust of wind, Mike Miller’s squad would’ve left town with a 34-33 victory. But by calling a run, and by the Redblacks’ defence smartly allowing them to score, Ottawa gave themselves a chance.

In his third career start, rookie defensive back Kahzir Brown was the Redblacks’ most impactful defender. The six-foot-one, 223-pounder made eight tackles, including a couple of thunderous open field hits. He also snagged an interception on the Argos’ second to last possession that could have sealed the win had Ottawa’s offence not gone two-and-out on the ensuing possession.

But Brown wasn’t the only defender who stood out. Linebacker Aaron Casey notched six tackles and had a pair of sacks. His effort and energy as he flew around the field was noticeable. Speaking of linebackers, Canadian Lucas Cormier had another good outing, making five tackles and recovering a fumble. Ottawa native Luiji Vilain was only credited with a single tackle, but the pressure he brought from the defensive end position led to a couple of rushed throws and his very normal-looking hit on Chad Kelly in the first quarter ultimately forced Toronto’s starting pivot from the contest.

All Hardt

With veteran Justin Hardy unable to suit up due to a leg injury, the Redblacks were without their leading receiver against the Argos. Coming into the game, nobody had been targeted more, made more catches or put up yards than Hardy. His absence meant someone else would have to step up. Enter the only off-season free agent signing that truly panned out, Ayden Eberhardt.

Not only did the 28-year old cross the 1,000-yard receiving mark for the first time in his career thanks to his nine-catch, 101-yard performance, he also hauled in a pair of touchdowns, including the game-winner.

It is a catch that will go down in Ottawa history for its significance in ending the worst losing streak in franchise history.

As for the rest of the receiving group, American rookie Grant Dubose started in Hardy’s spot and turned four targets into three catches for 35 yards, the other was a drop. Cade McDonald made five catches for 58 yards, Keelan White had five receptions for 56 yards and Kalil Pimpleton turned four grabs into 82 yards.

It’s a good thing the Redblacks came out with a victory because had they lost this game, Pimpleton’s second down drop with three minutes left in the game would’ve loomed large. Instead of moving the chains and potentially setting up a field goal as it looked like he had a TON of space to run, the drop gave the ball back to the Argos and allowed them to move down the field and get the go-ahead score. As bad as the drop was, it shouldn’t overshadow everything else Ottawa’s speedy receiver did.

Mr. 3,000

Thanks to 82 yards receiving and 138 yards returning kicks, Pimpleton became the 11th player in CFL history to amass 3,000 combined yards in a single season. Currently sitting at 3,171 total yards, with a big game in Ottawa’s season finale, Pimpleton has a shot at breaking Jason Armstead’s franchise record of 3,353 combined yards, which was set with the Renegades in 2005.

Moving in opposite directions

While it’s not exactly a fair comparison due to one’s ability to stay healthy and contribute versus the other struggling to find his form after a couple of unlucky injuries, it’s tough not to compare how the careers of young Canadian receivers Kevin Mital and Nick Mardner have played out to date.

With the second overall pick in the 2024 CFL Draft, the Redblacks selected Mardner instead of Mital. Mital was a Hec Crighton Trophy winner and Vanier Cup MVP, whereas Mardner’s last two NCAA seasons were underwhelming. But Ottawa was intrigued by Mardner’s six-foot-six frame, and his second season at Hawaii which saw him make 46 catches for 913 yards and five touchdowns.

Fast forward three seasons and the same week that the Redblacks release Mardner, Mital drops a six-catch, 110-yard, two touchdown performance on the team that passed over him.

Never say die

As every Southsider knows, hope is the last thing to go. That’s why the shirts they wear and flags they wave at games boldly state: “Never Say Die.” That attitude and belief that things would eventually turn around is what’s gotten R-Nation through the long dark days of the second worst losing streak in Canadian football history.

The crowds this season at TD Place have been sparse, and understandably so. Especially when you zoom out and realize that as bad as this losing streak has been, fans in the nation’s capital have had to put up with so much more than just this streak. In fact, going back to 1978 — 48 years ago — Ottawa football teams have posted an above .500 record exactly five times; 1978, 1979, 2015, 2018 and 2024.

That’s a hell of a lot of misery, however you choose to categorize and quantify it. Beating the Argos doesn’t magically fix the issues with attendance or cure the apathy that’s set in for large swaths of fans, but it does provide a special moment in an otherwise very forgettable season.

Friday night’s announced attendance was 16,371, yes, I’m aware that’s tickets distributed, not butts in seats, but every single member of R-Nation who was at the game deserves a round of applause. Those on hand were loud because the team finally gave them reason to be. Here’s hoping those who were present cherish the win and that next season the organization gives more people more reasons to believe and come out to games.

This and that

Couple of random things I wanted to hit on. Since there will be no playoff football at Lansdowne, Friday night was the final time fans could experience a game with the 55-yard line and 20-yard end zones at TD Place. Barring a last-minute change from the league, the field will be smaller from 2027 onwards and depending where people have season tickets, fans will find themselves further away from the action.

By suiting up on Friday night, fullback Anthony Gosselin tied Nigel Romick for the franchise record for all-time games played with the Redblacks organization at 128 apiece. Although, he didn’t make one against Toronto, Gosselin leads Ottawa this season with 10 special teams tackles.

Friday night’s game was the 271st time a pro football team from Ottawa has taken on the Argos. Even with the win, Toronto owns the series lead with 154 wins to 111 losses and five ties.

Sigh of relief

With the win, an embarrassing disaster has been averted. Earning their first win of the season doesn’t suddenly make the 2026 season a success or indicate that another win is likely next week, but it does ensure the Ottawa Redblacks won’t make the wrong kind of history.

Going down in the record book as a one-win team is far from ideal, but if that’s how things play out next week, at least the 2026 Redblacks will have company in the 1954 B.C. Lions, the 1959 Saskatchewan Roughriders, the 1961 Lions, the 1964 Blue Bombers and 2003 Ticats.

It’s been evident that the losing streak has taken a toll on people in every level of the organization. Coaches were let go, players were released, the team president stepped down and the vice president of football ops was fired. And if you have any doubt as to how heavy the losing has been weighing on the men trying to fight and claw for a win each week, do yourself a favour and go check out Eberhardt’s post-game interview with TSN.

Hopefully the victory provides a bit of a boost to morale around the building.

Up next

The Redblacks close out their season Saturday, October 24 in Hamilton. It should provide another opportunity to see what Barnes can do under centre, this time in a hostile environment on the road. It’ll also be the last chance for everyone on the roster to state their case as to why they should be brought back for 2027. Be it veterans or someone recently signed, everyone is auditioning for jobs.