OTTAWA — Ryan Dinwiddie has seen just about everything in nearly two decades as a quarterback or coach in the CFL.
This season, he’s entered uncharted territory — and not in a good way.
The Ottawa Redblacks have plunged to 0-9 in Dinwiddie’s first year as head coach and general manager, all but ending their playoff hopes with half a season still to play.
“We’re gonna continue to keep fighting,” Dinwiddie said Tuesday in the tunnel beneath TD Place. “I just told the guys, just play for the love of the game. We get paid to do this, we’re judged off wins and losses, but they gotta find that inner child that loves to go out to practice, loves to go out to compete, loves to be around the guys.”
Dinwiddie left the Toronto Argonauts after five seasons — and two Grey Cup titles — as head coach to take a promotion in Ottawa, and has admitted the challenge has been greater than anticipated.
He was animated during Tuesday’s practice, calling out instructions and feedback with the occasional expletive in a relatively upbeat session, even as the Redblacks continue to make unwanted history.
They are the 13th CFL team to lose their first nine games of a season and set a modern-day league record with their 15th consecutive loss last week in Winnipeg. That surpassed the previous mark of 14 straight, set by the now-defunct Shreveport Pirates in 1994.
And it’s not about to get any easier.
Ottawa visits the league-leading Alouettes on Thursday, coming off a game Friday while Montreal returns with fresh legs and a shorter injury list following a bye week. With another loss, the Redblacks would become just the ninth team to lose their first 10 games in a season.
Ottawa also has a league-high 17 players on the six-game injured list and is riding a 13-game losing streak against the Alouettes dating back to Oct. 10, 2022, including two defeats this season.
The odds are stacked against them — most sportsbooks have the Alouettes as 13.5-point favourites — but Canadian linebacker Lucas Cormier says the Redblacks are done feeling sorry for themselves.
“It’s challenging. Nobody likes to lose,” said the Sackville, N.B., native. “But at the end of the day, we have the same … idea of going 1-0 this week, not thinking about the fact that we are where we are.”
“It’s the fact of the matter, but nobody’s coming to save us,” he added. “We need to move forward.”
The losses have prompted changes throughout the organization. Ottawa fired defensive co-ordinator Will Fields earlier this month, replacing him with Jeff Reinebold, while Adrian Sciarra stepped down as president Monday.
The Redblacks have also released veterans Eugene Lewis and Demerio Houston and traded former starting quarterback Dru Brown to Winnipeg after Dinwiddie handed Jake Maier the No. 1 job out of training camp.
Dinwiddie said the team’s morale was “as good as it could be” under the circumstances.
“Sitting at 0-9, it could really snowball at this stage and it could turn into finger-pointing,” he said. “The guys have found ways to stick together and that’s not easy to do, so I commend them on that. But at the same time, we got to go out there and play winning football, even with the injuries, next man up.”
The Redblacks have made the playoffs just once since 2019, compiling a 27-85-1 record in that span after reaching the Grey Cup in three of the previous four years. Attendance has also fallen to an average of 15,124 through five home games, down from 18,136 last season.
“If I could sit here and tell you what is wrong, I think the front office would have fixed it, you know what I mean?” said the 25-year-old Cormier, who joined the Redblacks in 2023. “The CFL is a very competitive league, and I think you’ve seen people say it all year, there’s never a week you’re going into a game where it’s an easy one.
“I know the coaching staff, the front office are doing everything that they can to put us in the right positions.”
Ottawa sits last or second-last in virtually every statistical category heading into Week 12, averaging 23 points per game while allowing 35.8. The Alouettes, meanwhile, are on pace for several offensive records thanks to quarterback Davis Alexander and wide receiver Tyson Philpot.
Alexander, who boasts a 19-1 regular-season record as a starter, is on pace for 6,280 passing yards, a number that would eclipse Anthony Calvillo’s single-season team record of 6,041 and rank second all-time in CFL history behind Doug Flutie’s 6,619-yard campaign with the B.C. Lions in 1991.
On defence, meanwhile, the Alouettes are welcoming back four starters following the bye week: defensive lineman Mustafa Johnson, middle linebacker Geoffrey Cantin-Arku, linebacker Najee Murray and defensive back Wesley Sutton.
Cantin-Arku, however, wasn’t expecting a walk in the park on Thursday at Molson Stadium.
“Seriously, we’re going game by game. We shouldn’t underestimate Ottawa,” he told reporters this week. “Even if they’re 0-9, they can come into our house and beat us if we don’t show up.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 19, 2026.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
