CFL Obituaries: The Argonauts finally met adversity they couldn't overcome

Here's the next installment of our CFL Obituaries series, looking at the Toronto Argonauts.

The Toronto Argonauts' 2015 season passed away Sunday in Hamilton with a 25-22 loss to the Tiger-Cats, one bout of adversity they weren't able to overcome. The Argonauts had faced tons of challenges this year, from playing away from Toronto until August, hosting "home" games in Fort McMurray, Ottawa, and Hamilton (thanks to the PanAm Games and the Blue Jays' playoff run), missing quarterback Ricky Ray for most of the season and dealing with a lame-duck year from owner David Braley before the already-announced sale to Bell and Larry Tanenbaum took effect, but they'd found a way to deal with all of them until now. However, some of the Ticats' successes against Toronto Sunday proved just too much to handle.

Even these latest challenges were almost survivable, though. The Argos had plenty of chances to live on throughout Sunday's game, including an early punt that punter Swayze Waters almost recovered, two field goals that he missed, and receivers Phil Bates and Diontae Spencer colliding on a particular pass play. They also did lots of things well Sunday, including rattling inexperienced Hamilton quarterback Jeremiah Masoli early, which led to him being pulled in favour of Jacory Harris. Toronto led 10-6 at the half and 18-6 during the third quarter. Masoli used his time on the sidelines to his advantage, though, and came back in once Harris struggled to lead a late comeback.

The Tiger-Cats still needed every second to pull out this win, though, and Justin Medlock's eventual 47-yard game-winning field goal at the buzzer only came after a controversial roughing-the-passer call on Argos' defensive lineman Martin Wright, who appeared to have been blocked into Masoli. It's far from certain Toronto would have won if that call had gone differently, as Medlock had the wind at his back and felt confident he could hit from the pre-penalty 62 yards (and even if he missed, a rouge would have been enough for the victory), and anything could happen in overtime, but it was yet one more punch the Argos suffered this year. They rolled with the punches all season long, and almost found a way to come out with a win, but the punishment eventually caught up to them.

However, the narrative of Toronto as unjustly persecuted by the fates isn't entirely fair to the rest of the league. Yes, the Argos had some circumstances that went above and beyond what everyone else faced, from their early-season road trip to their home games being moved to Fort McMurray, Ottawa and Hamilton, and yes, their 2015 ownership situation was the worst in the CFL. They didn't pick up a single free agent this offseason, lost some key players and didn't seem to invest much in marketing or promotion to boost the home-field advantage, not surprising considering that Braley already had a deal in place to sell the team. Those factors all help explain their struggles.

Every team dealt with plenty of issues this year, though, and Toronto was actually well ahead of the pack on the quarterback health front. Sure, Ray missed much of the season, but backup Trevor Harris had substantial experience, did very well in relief, and was able to avoid injuries. That's a decided contrast from many of the CFL's teams in 2015. Compare that to say, Hamilton, where Harris and Masoli entered the year as third- and fourth-stringers respectively behind Zach Collaros and Jeff Mathews (both now injured), and each had less than 500 career regular-season passing yards heading into Sunday's game. As Ticats' head coach and general manager Kent Austin told media after the game, "We have our own sacks of rocks to carry, like everybody else."

It's also notable that in some respects, the Argonauts were rather lucky to last as long as they did. They finished the year 10-8, the same as the Tiger-Cats, but scored just 438 points while allowing 499, a -61 differential. By contrast, Hamilton scored 530 and allowed 391, a +139 differential. Point differentials aren't everything, of course, and the Ticats' number isn't entirely reflective of where they are now (it was largely recorded with Collaros and then Mathews, and they'd lost three straight games heading into Sunday), but they do provide some indication of how good a team actually is; if they're winning a few close ones and losing others by a lot, that may suggest they have some element of fate on their side. There's a lot for Toronto to work on this offseason (the defence and special teams particularly struggled this year, the ground game wasn't great, and they'll have a tough quarterback decision coming up), and they did look like the weaker team overall in this matchup, so perhaps the ending wasn't horribly unjust despite the moments where it could have swung the other way.

It looks like the Argonauts' season will be survived by general manager Jim Barker and head coach Scott Milanovich, both of whom received extensions from the new owners before the season, and that's as it should be. Both did an admirable job of working within numerous constraints this year. There will be some new blood, though, with president and CEO Chris Rudge heading out and Michael Copeland (the former league president and chief operating officer) coming into that role, and there will be lots of changes as the team moves to BMO Field. It's going to be interesting to see if they try and keep pending free agent Ray around; he's found a lot of success in this league, but is 36 and has battled significant injuries recently, so it's unclear if he can still be depended on as a starter. (He has said he wants to return to the Argos, but we'll see if that happens or not.) Harris is a pending free agent too, so the team will have a tough decision to make there (and one that may be influenced by the potential market for both elsewhere).

It's clearly going to be an offseason of some change in Toronto, and we'll see who's left standing when it's all said and done. Things aren't going to be easy for them next year, either, as the Redblacks and Ticats will both likely have strong teams again, and the Montreal Alouettes seem to be doing some things right on the rebuilding front. Still, with new ownership, a new stadium and less constraints to work under, though, there seems to be a decent chance the Argonauts will be able to build a 2016 season that outlasts this year's predecessor.