As the calendar flips to December, it’s tempting to look ahead to what 2026 might bring — in both football and in life.

But before we get lost in the prospects for 2026, allow me to throw a procedure flag and point you back to all we learned in an action-packed, drama-filled 2025 campaign — one capped by the Saskatchewan Roughriders hoisting the Grey Cup for the first time in 12 years.

Here are 10 things we learned along the way:

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For anyone who had questions last year after his return from the NFL, Nathan Rourke delivered an unequivocal answer in 2025 with the BC Lions: he’s the real deal. Under the tutelage of head coach Buck Pierce, Rourke became only the fifth man to win both the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player and Most Outstanding Canadian in the same year, joining lofty company in Russ Jackson, Tony Gabriel, Jon Cornish and Brady Oliveira. Rourke registered career-highs in passing yards (5,290), rushing yards (564), touchdowns (31) and rushing touchdowns (10), leaving CFL fans to salivate at what might come next for the Victoria-born gunslinger.

Canadian quarterbacks are no longer a novelty. They’re difference makers. When I started covering the CFL back in 2001, the idea of a Canadian starting at quarterback was seen as preposterous. The best........

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