Canadian defensive lineman Christian Covington did not see the humility and discipline needed to win a championship from the B.C. Lions’ locker room in 2024.
“I think it starts with, honestly, self-accountability. Being able to understand and humble yourselves whenever things are gonna go wrong,” Covington told 3DownNation.
“No one’s ever played a perfect game of football, there’s no such thing. Unless you went to some powerhouse high school in Texas or California, there are gonna be mistakes made. There are gonna be moments where things are not gonna be going your way. There’s gonna be a moment in the game, or at halftime, or even in meetings before, meetings afterwards, there’s just gonna be that moment of self-realization. That time when you have to look in the mirror and be like, ‘Hey, this happened, we have to move on. How do we get better?’ And I feel that we didn’t do that as often and as well as we should have.”
The Lions had lofty expectations entering the 2024 season, with Vancouver playing host to its first Grey Cup in a decade. Owner Amar Doman spared no expense and allowed the team to steam-roll the salary cap in pursuit of a home championship, but ultimately came up empty.
After blazing out to a 5-1 start, B.C. suffered five straight defeats and eventually finished 9-9, losing out on a home playoff game. After falling to Saskatchewan on the road in the West Semi-Final, head coach and co-general manager Rick Campbell was fired for failing to get the team over the hump.
Covington, who finally joined his hometown Lions last year after nine seasons in the NFL, admitted that his first CFL season came with a transition period. He started slower than hoped but came on strong late in the year after adjusting to the yard off the ball and honing in on an ideal playing weight. However, he didn’t always see his teammates approaching their performance with the same critical lens.
“There were times where I know myself in particular, I’m always gonna be critical of myself and harsh on myself when it comes to film. I feel like we needed more of that accountability of being able to understand like, hey, I played a bad game, or it wasn’t the best scheme, or we didn’t have the right mindset going into that week of practice. So how are we gonna better ourselves? How are gonna correct this? How are gonna move on from this in order for us to be successful or to win this game?” he remarked.
“Being able to take that accountability and being able to learn from our mistakes and not take it like we’re being attacked as a person, we’re being attacked as a man on the field. It’s like, no, we’re just trying to be coached. We’re just trying to get better in every facet of the game and every area of the game. We have to be able to just take that and move with it and move forward with it. From there, we’re gonna be able to see the success be translated into the win column this season.”
The lack of receptiveness to coaching could be attributed to allegations of a divided locker room which hovered over the Lions over the latter half of the season. After Canadian quarterback Nathan Rourke was brought back from the NFL mid-season to replace an injured Vernon Adams Jr., many wondered why he continued to start despite persistent struggles and the incumbent’s return to health. After Adams was eventually given the start for the regular season finale and playoffs, some players openly stated that it had been his team all along.
Even while playing in the NFL, Covington was well aware of Rourke’s blossoming stardom and understood the decision to bring him in. However, he had empathy for both of the players involved and acknowledged it was a challenging time for everyone.
“It’s difficult and honestly, I know it was tough on Nathan, but I have to give a shout-out to Vernon Adams. It was tough on him too, just to know that you’ve done everything you can for a franchise or for a club, but these are things that are just out of your control,” he explained. “This is a team that is touted and has high expectations of wanting to win now, and I feel like it was a difficult thing to navigate for many parties that were involved. Both guys handled it with such grace. Both guys handled it like true professionals because, again, it was how the cards were dealt.”
Covington knew from his own journey that jumping back into the CFL game would be no easy feat. While Rourke struggled initially, he wishes those criticizing his performance would appreciate just how challenging the circumstances were.
“The quarterback position is a special position. For him to make that transition mid-season after the amount of years that he was down south and not only that, you’re coming back and you’re starting against the [Bombers] this week — that’s a tall task,” Covington said. “It’s a different playbook. It’s a different-sized ball. It’s a different scheme altogether. He did what he could, I will say that. A lot more people need to give grace to how he was able to make that transition back mid-season and accomplish what he was able to accomplish with the season that we had.”
Now that Rourke has had an offseason to adjust and will get a full training camp to build chemistry with his weapons, Covington believes he can be a “dominant force” in 2025. The Lions as a whole are a different team, with general manager Ryan Rigmaiden and head coach Buck Pierce making mental toughness and accountability priorities after taking over their respective jobs.
That shift in culture could catapult the Lions back into Grey Cup contention and finally get them over the hump against the team to beat in the West Division.
“It’s always Winnipeg,” Covington admitted. “But at the end of the day, we have a squad too and when you look at this roster, you see the talent that we have on this team. People are gonna have to go through us too.”
The post Former NFL DL Christian Covington blames lack of ‘self-accountability’ for B.C. Lions’ disappointing 2024 finish appeared first on 3DownNation.
