BC Lions Chase First Grey Cup Appearance Since 2011 After Remarkable Turnaround

BC Lions linebacker Darnell Sankey appreciates the journey the Leos have been on this season, as they sit on the precipice of a Grey Cup championship game, after a dismal 1-5 start to the 2026 season. 

Facing the Edmonton Elks in front of an expectant, packed Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday, the Lions are looking to advance to the CFL’s championship game for the first time since 2011. The current 15-year dry spell without advancing to the Grey Cup showdown is the longest in the league. 

For BC, though, the adversity and bounceback have been remarkable. 

After a challenging start, the Lions won nine of their final 12 regular-season games and are thriving after a starring performance from quarterback Nathan Rourke in last week’s 33-26 West semifinal win over the defending champion Saskatchewan Roughriders. 

Speaking to Sick Media’s new podcast, The Sat Shah Show with Satiar Shah, Sankey said he found the turnaround “amazing,” and that the win over Saskatchewan was a microcosm of the entire season, with a troubling first half before a late push to victory. 

“It was kind of a microcosm of our whole season,” he told Shah. “When you start off the season 1-5, you have a lot of people who doubt this organization, and you have people coming for the heads of our coaches, for players, and then we turn that around, and we get a nice run, then we make it to the playoffs, and then we are, you know, climbing the ladder.”

“The goal is to win the Grey Cup, so I think just that game and how it kind of started was a great microcosm, but if we want to beat Edmonton, that can't happen because against a great team like that, they're going to come out guns blazing, and we need to make sure that we're 100 per cent ready.”

Sankey’s starring season helped him become the 11th Lion to win the CFL’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player, and he is the only player in the West to hold a major end-of-season award, with Edmonton quarterback Cody Fajardo finishing third in Most Outstanding Player voting, followed by Rourke in fourth. 

“I think every moment deserves your full attention, and so I think we’re looking at it from that perspective,” Rourke told The Canadian Press. “(Edmonton) is a very good football team that’s earned their right to be in the position that they are in, and we’ve got to get through them.”

Should the Lions navigate the Elks, they would meet either the Montreal Alouettes or Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Grey Cup, where they would look to end Vancouver’s 15-year trophy drought at Calgary’s McMahon Stadium on Nov. 15.