A tale of two franchises: Roughriders stay patient for now, while Lions take drastic action

The stories of the Saskatchewan Roughriders' and B.C. Lions' 2014 campaigns are similar; both battled significant offseason attrition, got off to a good start, dealt with key quarterback injuries, struggled down the stretch and eventually lost in the first round of the playoffs. However, as we discussed on the 55-Yard Line Podcast this week, those seasons have precipitated dramatically different reactions from the teams and their fanbases. While there's some consternation in Saskatchewan about the playoff exit, the general reaction has been more "Things will be better next year," and there isn't a ton of lobbying for drastic change; general manager Brendan Taman, head coach Corey Chamblin appear both set to return, and the team may likely hang on to their coordinators. Meanwhile, the Lions' fanbase has been in much more of an uproar, and that likely played a role in the team's decision to fire head coach Mike Benevides Thursday. Why are the responses so different in Vancouver and Regina, and which one's likely to work out better?

One big reason for less pressure in Saskatchewan is the team's recent success. Most of this group won a Grey Cup last year, and that provides a bit of a reputation cushion. Meanwhile, B.C.'s suffered three straight playoff losses under Benevides since winning the 2011 Grey Cup (when GM Wally Buono was astill the head coach and Benevides was the defensive coordinator). However, judging teams by postseason success is a flawed idea in some respects; the CFL playoffs are a very small sample size, and anything can happen during them. Moreover, not everything is decided by coaching; roster talent level, injuries and even just players' level of execution on game day can make good coaches fail or worse coaches succeed. While winning a Grey Cup does tend to say good things about a coaching staff, losing in the playoffs shouldn't necessarily condemn one. Getting into the playoffs alone is still a reasonably successful season, especially when dealing with the quarterback injuries these teams faced.

A word on that front: by quarterback performance in particular, Benevides' Lions had more legitimate excuses for their 2014 struggles than Chamblin's Riders. Saskatchewan had Darian Durant for the whole first part of the season before he got hurt in September, and still struggled to put together a passing game, winding up with the CFL's worst aerial attack by yards per game. B.C. had Travis Lulay for exactly one game in September (where he came back and hurt himself again), and still put up the fourth-highest passing yards per game. Yes, the Lions had the advantage of going to a reasonably-reliable backup in Kevin Glenn rather than Saskatchewan's combination of youth (Tino Sunseri, Seth Doege) and ineffective 41-year-olds (Kerry Joseph), but that's as a result of good planning by Buono, and it's notable that the Lions managed to find much more passing success than the Riders despite having their planned starter for less time.

Other issues that arose in Saskatchewan also were more related to coaching. The never-ending shuffle at running back, with guys like Anthony Allen or Hugh Charles benched or cut for small mistakes, seemed to play a large role in the Riders' consistency issues, and that's absolutely on the coaching staff. Meanwhile, B.C.'s ground game wasn't the same after Andrew Harris went down, but it's hard to pin an injury like that on coaching. That's not to say that Saskatchewan's offensive design was bad (it wasn't) or that B.C.'s was great (it wasn't), but there are more reasonable non-coaching explanations for the Lions' struggles than the Riders'.

None of this is to say that Taman, Chamblin or their coordinators should lose their jobs. They've done great work over the last few years, and Saskatchewan's struggles this year did have a lot to do with injuries (Durant's in particular) and preseason departures (those of Kory Sheets and Weston Dressler in particular) that were out of the hands of the Riders. It's notable how much more patience the Saskatchewan fans and media are showing at the moment, though. Longevity and stability can work out very well in the CFL; we'll see if it does for the Riders, and we'll see if the Lions' quick coaching change here comes back to haunt them.