There’s only one question surrounding the Ottawa Redblacks at the moment: Will they win a game this season?
The franchise reached a new low point in last week’s 34-16 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, setting a new Canadian Football League record for the worst start in league history at 0-15.
The Redblacks passed the 1994 Shreveport Pirates – who lost 14 consecutive games in their inaugural season – for the title no team wants.
Ottawa’s losing streak dates back to last season, as the team has lost 21 straight games – a CFL modern-era record – and has not won since Sep.3, 2025.
Ottawa has three chances remaining to avoid becoming the first CFL team to ever go winless. Let’s take a look at the matchups and see what it would take to get the job done.
Redblacks at BC Lions
The Redblacks’ next chance at the taste of sweet victory will come on the West Coast against the red-hot BC Lions. After starting 1-5, BC has won eight of its past nine games as both sides of the ball have been clicking.
“It’s a tough place to play, they’re playing well,” Ottawa head coach and general manager Ryan Dinwiddie told the media on Monday. “They’ve been on a pretty good streak the last eight games, so we know it’s going to be a tough game. We’ve got to start faster.”
The pair of teams matched up just over a month ago in Week 13 in the nation’s capital, when BC claimed a 45-24 victory. It was Jake Maier at quarterback for Ottawa in that one, but it’s been McLeod Bethel-Thompson at the helm virtually since that loss.
The 38-year-old has given some vertical pop to the offence over the past four weeks, completing 60.4 per cent of his passes for an average of 299.3 passing yards with a 7-2 touchdown-to-interception ratio over that span.
The air attack has been somewhat of a bright spot for Ottawa lately, especially with second-year Canadian wideout Keelan White’s continued breakout. They’re going to need it, as the Redblacks have struggled to get any semblance of a run game going, while the Lions have been the best team defending the run and one of the best defences overall.
It also seems like a tough task for the league’s worst defence to stop such a dynamic BC offence. It’s going to start with stopping the run. If the Redblacks allow Zander Horvath to run for a whopping 164 yards and four touchdowns like he did in the last matchup, they’ll be in tough.
Stopping the run early defensively and getting out to a fast start through the air offensively could be what sets up Ottawa for a chance to win.
Toronto Argonauts at Redblacks
It doesn’t get any easier for the Redblacks’ defence in Week 20, as their final home game of 2026 comes against the Toronto Argonauts.
While Argos gunslinger Chad Kelly missed the team’s Week 18 contest, he is expected to be back and leading Toronto’s high-powered offence following their bye.
The Argonauts are the league’s best passing offence by far, while the Redblacks have been poor at defending the pass. The team is allowing the most yards through the air per game (347.7) as the team had multiple players on the back end making their first ever CFL starts in their last contest. That’s because injuries have more than added up for Ottawa’s defence, as the unit has nearly 20 players on the six-game injured list.
It’s been tough for anyone to stop Kelly and his plethora of wideouts featuring Damonte Coxie, Kevin Mital, and Tyler Kahmann, but they have been prone to turnovers, which is something the Redblacks will have to take advantage of.
And with the way Ottawa’s passing attack has ticked up in recent weeks and Toronto’s defensive weakness being the back end and ultimately through the air, the path to victory for the Redblacks could be to win the turnover battle and aggressively attack the defensive backs.
Redblacks at Hamilton Tiger-Cats
The final chance for Ottawa to win a game, if it comes to it, will be in The Hammer as they travel to take on the Tiger-Cats.
These teams just squared off in Week 18, when Hamilton pulled away in the second half to snag a 34-16 victory.
“That was a tough one,” Dinwiddie said following the loss. “I thought we had a good first half. We should have been up more than three going into [halftime]. I thought the defence gave us a chance, but we’ve got to make more of our opportunities in the first half. Second half, we had the two drops that got us off the field, and I didn’t think I called the best game in the second half. Probably should have simplified a little bit and let our guys play a little bit more.”
On paper, this seems like the best remaining opportunity for Ottawa to erase the goose egg, given Hamilton is the only other team eliminated from the postseason at this point.
While the focus may be through the air in the first two games, this one will be won or lost on the ground. Similar to their matchup against BC, Ottawa will have to focus on stopping the Tiger-Cats’ rushing attack first and foremost.
Larry Rountree III ran for 128 yards in Week 18 against Ottawa, which was one of the best games on the ground for Hamilton and simply cannot happen again. The Redblacks also had one of their best games on the ground, however, as the team put up nearly 100 yards of rushing – mostly thanks to Canadian Daniel Adeboboye.
If the Redblacks can win in the trenches, they can win this game.