Alouettes, Roughriders playing for pride in season finale

The Montreal Alouettes and Saskatchewan Roughriders will be in an unusual position Sunday, getting ready to watch the playoffs from home.

Montreal has missed the postseason for the first time since rejoining the league in 1996, and this will only be the second time since 2002 that Saskatchewan will be on the outside looking in.

The Roughriders have won only once in their past seven games, but that victory came against the Alouettes in September. Jerome Messam ran for 111 yards and a score, but the running back was dealt to the Calgary Stampeders last month. Saskatchewan's season was derailed after losing star quarterback Darian Durant in Week 1 due to a ruptured Achilles.

Montreal has managed only one win since that loss to the Roughriders, and its playoff hopes were extinguished after losing to the Edmonton Eskimos last week. Kevin Glenn has finally given the team the consistency it's been searching for this season at quarterback, but it came too late for the Als.

Despite missing the playoffs, both teams should still have interesting offseasons. The Als and Roughriders made midseason coaching changes, so both organizations now have to decide who is the best fit to lead their respective teams going forward.