Getting That Quarter Back

Two wins in three games is nothing to hang your head about. But if you're anything like me, you're a little bit concerned about the BC Lions these days.

Some people will tell you that a win is a win. And I know that it's early in the season. But the Lions' lack of finish late in the game has me watching this team very closely. The fourth quarter collapse in Saskatchewan raised a few eyebrows. The near folding-of-the-tent against the Argos last Friday was nearly as disastrous. And though the Leos escaped with the "W", you have to wonder where the team's confidence is right now.

Don't get me wrong. When the Lions have been on, they've looked like the class of the CFL. Dave Dickenson is slashing up secondaries like an Enron exec shredding documents. Geroy Simon catching passes like Paris Hilton at Naval base in Siberia. And BC's D has gone through stretches where they've been stingier than the woman who works the media meal at BC Place (she treats each cookie on the tray like a child you're to trying adopt... good luck getting more than one).

But the lack of killer instinct in the fourth quarter is concerning. Sure it's early in the season and you want to be playing your best football after Labour Day, but the foundation for winning starts early in the year. Bad habits are tough to break. Let a team comeback and beat you once, and you start to wonder if it's going to happen again. Players need to feel that somehow they will find a way to get the victory, not the alternative. Athletes will tell you that winning is all about making plays. But really it's about confidence. When you've got it, those game-changing plays somehow get made. When you don't, they don't. It's that simple.

When the Lions travel to Edmonton this week, I guarantee that someone drops the "we need to play a full 60 minutes" when asked the monotonous question regarding the key to beating the Eskimos. But I'm more interested in seeing how they play the final 15.