Stadium's farewell outdazzles Riders' final performance

That was one lousy farewell present.

In the final game for the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Mosaic Stadium on Taylor Field, their home for the better part of the last century, the home team was embarrassed by the visitors in front of a sell out crowd.

Fortunately, the closing farewell ceremony left many in the stadium forgetting all about what they had witnessed when the lights were on.

The B.C. Lions showed why they're going to the playoffs and the Riders are not, recording a 24-6 victory in what will be the answer to a trivia question for years to come.

Jeremiah Johnson, Emmanuel Arceneaux and Terrell Sinkfield scored touchdowns, and Rider quarterbacks were sacked seven times in the Lions' one-sided win.

Chris Jones actually talked a good game the day before. 

Fully expecting to win the west in 2017, the Riders' Head Coach was suggesting they would treat this game as their dress rehearsal for next year's west final and next week's game in Vancouver as their Grey Cup game. 

Good thing it wasn't.

Instead Jones treated Mosaic's farewell game more like a pre-season contest, rotating Darian Durant and back up Jake Waters for most of the evening. 

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out it doesn't matter if you have John Elway or Joe Montana sitting behind there, If you can't protect him better than we did tonight they're going to struggle." said Jones who has seen his quarterbacks sacked more than twenty times over the last four games.

But rotating quarterbacks? Incredibly confusing considering the magnitude of the evening.

Games and seasons will be forgotten, but even though this one meant nothing in terms of the Riders' final standing, the game was of historical significance, and history will remember the Riders disrespecting their own house.

"Unfortunately it was the last game that will be played here. Certainly we would have liked to have gone out with a win. Our crowd was outstanding tonight, we know what football means here, it's very disappointing when we can't execute better for our fans." said Jones.

In the locker room, the majority of players have no emotional attachment to the stadium, some were even playing in it for the very first time Saturday night.

Rob Bagg, though, understood what the game was all about, as he was embarrassed and apologetic to Rider fans who expected more on such a historic night.

"Before the game, to be honest with you, I mentioned to a couple people that it had that Grey Cup feeling from 2013, just how many people were in the stadium before warm-up, everything like that, so really an ideal night for us to play a good football game and we didn't." said Bagg who caught one pass for seven yards in the one-sided affair.

"To all the fans out there, thank you, this stadium certainly for me has a ton of memories, I wish we played better for you all."

The one player who has put in more time on the Taylor Field turf than Bagg is Darian Durant.

The Riders' quarterback was not in the room following the game, he was involved with a dazzling and emotional farewell ceremony outside along with more than 33,400 fans.

Normally after witnessing a game like that, most of the crowd would have been on their way to the parking lot early in the 4th quarter, instead they all stayed to witness a 30 minute spectacle that was comparable to the atmosphere following the 2013 Grey Cup celebration.

It was an incredible display honouring the stadium and the championship teams it housed.

The Grey Cup made an appearance as it was passed from representatives of all four cup winning teams.

From George Reed to Roger Aldag to Gene Makowsky to Durant who made a weak attempt to lift the trophy, perhaps remembering his promise a few days earlier when he guaranteed he would hoist the Grey Cup one more time before he walks out of town.

Durant has just one game remaining on his current contract.

For Aldag, perhaps the toughest man to ever wear a Rider jersey, to see him shed tears after the ceremony was a memorable moment in itself.

"You know I just didn't know how to react all week as far as the actual closing of the stadium, it's a lot of great memories but again its done its duty and now its time to move on to the new place." said Aldag fighting back another round of tears.

Officially, the Riders are not yet done with old Mosaic. They still need it for a few more practices before heading off to Vancouver for the final game of the season.

The excitement of the new stadium, and the promise the team showed during a four-game win streak has been tempered by two back-to-back stinkers.

Chris Jones has used close to a 100 different players this season as he attempts to build a competitive club for the first year in new Mosaic.

But that was no way to say goodbye to the old one. 

It deserved better.