Firing head coach Mike Benevides is a dramatic change for the B.C. Lions. Will it pay off?

The B.C. Lions' 50-17 humiliation at the hands of the Montreal Alouettes in Sunday's East semifinal led to plenty of calls for bold action from B.C. fans, and they certainly got that with the team's announcement Thursday that they'd fired head coach Mike Benevides. While some were calling for Benevides' head, it's remarkable to see a team fire a guy with a 33-21 record, no losing seasons, a playoff berth in his final year and two years remaining on the contract extension he signed earlier this season, especially given that the LIons' primary shortcomings didn't have a lot to do with him. There are a lot of ways this could go very wrong for B.C., and only two possibilities that would seem to make it the right call: one, they already are targeting a head coach who's even better, or two, there were internal problems inside the Lions' organization that necessitated a move this drastic.

If you ask Lions' fans their opinions on Benevides right now, you'll probably find many who think this is the right move, but there's a recency bias to consider there. B.C. lost their two final regular-season games 37-3 and 33-16 before being thumped 50-17 in the playoffs, so there's a bad taste in the mouth of Lions'  fans right now. However, all of that should be taken in context.

For one thing, those final regular-season losses were against the best teams in the league (12-6 Edmonton and 15-3 Calgary, respectively); for another, there was a case for the Lions to purposefully tank those games to secure the crossover spot and its easier playoff path (through 9-9 Montreal and Hamilton rather than the Eskimos and Stampeders). It's doubtful they actually tanked, but there was negative incentive to win those games, so losses in them shouldn't particularly matter.

The playoff loss, and the manner the Lions lost in, is obviously more concerning. There were a whole raft of issues on display in that one, and issues that required substantial offseason fixes. However, in the end, that's still one game and a very small sample size. Does it invalidate a 9-9 season with a playoff berth in a tough division? Or B.C.'s previous 13-5 and 11-7 seasons under Benevides? General manager Wally Buono and the rest of the Lions' organziation involved in this firing appear to think so, but there's a case to be made against that.

What's particularly notable is that many of B.C.'s biggest issues this season had very little to do with Benevides. First, there were the injuries; the Lions played almost the whole season without starting quarterback Travis Lulay (who missed the first few months recovering from shoulder surgery, came back in early September and hurt himself again), and they lost top Canadian running back Andrew Harris (likely their best playmaker) at the end of September. No coach or executive can do much about that.

Beyond that, the talent level and depth at receiver was a particular issue, especially with B.C.'s top 2013 receiver Nick Moore signing with Winnipeg as a free agent in the offseason, but that's on Buono, not Benevides. Moore only notched 544 yards with the Bombers this year, but that's more than all but two B.C. receivers (Emmanuel Arceneaux and Ernest Jackson), and he did that while battling injuries. Keeping Moore in particular may have proved too expensive, but the Lions weren't able to find satisfactory replacements for him, and that's the general manager's role.

The offensive design and execution was also a big issue, and while Benevides bears ultimate responsiblity there, his background is on the defensive side of the ball. The Lions' offensive struggles this season had a lot to do with first-year coordinator Khari Jones learning on the job, and with him not being able to utilize the talent he did have all that well. In particular, B.C.'s great stable of running backs were often underutilized, both on the ground and out of the backfield, and quarterback Kevin Glenn was asked to make too many tough deep throws into coverage. The offensive unit represented the team's biggest problems, and while Benevides oversaw it in the end, most of the responsibility there is on the offensive coordinator. Whether Jones should have been given another year to show progress or replaced instantly was a matter of debate, but a lot of the Lions' problems in 2014 are traceable to him, his scheme and his unit.

It's notable that the unit Benevides was thoroughly involved with remained dominant for most of the year. Benevides' background is as a defensive coordinator, and he worked with first-year DC Mark Washington to produce another excellent B.C. unit that was especially effective against the pass, and a defence that was outstanding despite being left on the field forever thanks to the offensive woes. Some of the credit there absolutely goes to Buono for collecting players like MOP candidate Solomon Elimimian and perennial star Adam Bighill, but Benevides played a substantial role in moulding them into an effective unit. Even the loss to Montreal was about the offence more than the defence; a lot of the Alouettes' points came directly or indirectly from turnovers, and the Lions' defence held them in the game for the first half despite getting no support at all from Glenn and the offence. Will that defence still be as good without Benevides? We'll find out.

One way in which this move could work out for the Lions is if they're able to get a great head coach as a result. However, the options there are limited. Few would argue that Marc Trestman would be an incredible hire, but even if he does get fired in Chicago, it seems more likely he stays in the NFL as a coordinator. Calgary offensive coordinator, perennial head-coaching candidate and former B.C. quarterback Dave Dickenson will certainly get some discussion here, but he may be tough to lure away from the Stampeders, and while he undoubtedly knows offence well, we don't know yet if he'll turn into a good head coach. Montreal defensive coordinator Noel Thorpe looks like an excellent head-coaching candidate, but he also hasn't been a CFL head coach and is well-established with the Alouettes; it also seems unlikely the Lions will go with another defence-first guy after this. Beyond that, the options carry even more question marks.

The one element that would make this move more logical than it appears from the outside is if there were serious internal problems in the Lions' organization. Some issues have leaked out at times, with players like Dante Marsh voicing significant frustrations at benchings and the departures of other veterans, but that isn't necessarily an indication of how things actually stand behind closed doors. Similarly, if the Buono-Benevides relationship was turning toxic, firing Benevides makes sense, but it's impossible to know that from the outside. All we can work with in analysis of this move is what data's out there on Benevides' performance, the team's issues, potential replacements and more. Adding that up suggests that while this move is bold and while it will certainly appease some of the B.C. fanbase for the moment, it's not necessarily the wisest long-term strategy.

(One sad side note here is that Benevides was one of only two Canadian head coaches in the CFL, with Winnipeg's Mike O'Shea being the other one. Here's hoping his firing doesn't make teams consider Canadian candidates less.)