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HAMILTON — In a league in which six of eight teams qualify the postseason, it's not often CFL teams have to start thinking about next season before the leaves start to turn colour.
But with most of the foliage around Ivor Wynne Stadium still solid green, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats are very close to the stage where it may be time to flip over their calendars to 2009.
Hamilton's latest loss, a 35-12 debacle against the B.C. Lions on Saturday, hammered home the fact that despite years of rebuilding, the Tiger-Cats remain a work in progress, simply lacking the talent and experience to keep pace with the league's better teams.
That was true especially in the trenches, where the Lions' front four ran over an inexperienced Hamilton offensive line en route to seven sacks, while the Ticats achieved none.
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“This is very, very tough,” said Hamilton quarterback Casey Printers, who was pulled at halftime after completing seven of 15 passes for 91 yards and one interception. “I've never been on a losing team. It's tough for everybody because we don't want to be where we are, but the reality is we are. All these guys are here because they've been places where they were successful. No one wants to come where the atmosphere is a losing one. It's just been tough.”
On the day that marked Printer's one-year anniversary since signing with Hamilton, he spent most of his half hurrying throws or running for his life, much as backups Richie Williams and Quinton Porter did when they split the second half.
Still, Printers didn't inspire confidence when he entered the game wearing a wristband with the previous week's plays on it, forcing him to burn the team's first-half timeout.
“I don't even want to go there,” Taaffe said when asked about the incident.
Another area where Taaffe may not want to go is sizing up Hamilton's chances of making the CFL playoffs for the first time since 2004. At 2-8, Hamilton is two games behind the Toronto Argonauts for the second and likely final playoff spot open in the East Division.
With the Lions improving to 5-5, it is likely the fourth-place team in the West will cross over to the East at playoff time.
Daunting for Hamilton is that five of its remaining eight games will be on the road, where the Ticats are 1-12 under Taaffe this season and last, their sole victory coming in Week 2 against the Argonauts. The road games will be against the Edmonton Eskimos (next week), B.C. Lions, Montreal Alouettes, Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
All of which is why the biggest challenge for Taaffe and his staff may be just keeping their troops motivated through the final eight games of the season.
“Yeah, absolutely it's a challenge,” Taaffe said. “This has been a great exercise in psychology for me. We're just going to keep playing. This will be a challenge, but I told them it's an 18-game season and I expect nothing less than their best.”
Unless Hamilton can put together an unlikely string of victories, there will certainly be change coming to the Tiger-Cats' organization. The only question is how much and how swiftly it will come.
Taaffe is in the second year of a three-year contract. And while it's unlikely he'd be fired this season, his return next year is very much in doubt.
The more interesting question may be Printers, who was signed to a hefty front-loaded contract last season and has one year remaining and an option with Hamilton.
Cutting him free would be a drastic move, but at this point, the Ticats don't have the player they had hoped would turn them around.
“One guy does not save a franchise,” Printers said. “It's never been that way and it never will be.”
