1981 BC Lions season

1981 BC Lions season
General manager	Bob Ackles
Head coach	Vic Rapp
Home field	Empire Stadium
Results
Record	10–6
Division place	3rd, West
Playoff finish	Lost West Final

The 1981 BC Lions finished in third place in the West Division with a 10–6 record.

Joe Paopao had an excellent season with 3777 yards passing and 28 passing touchdowns and running back Larry Key had 19 touchdowns in a bounceback season after missing most of the 1980 season due to injury. Wideout Ty Gray had a breakout season with 1428 yards receiving.

The Lions beat Winnipeg in the West Semi-Final, but fell to the Eskimos 22–16 in the Western Final when Warren Moon hit Brian Kelly for a late 4th quarter touchdown. The Western Final included a game changing officiating error involving a Devon Ford kickoff return for a Lions touchdown when the officials incorrectly stated he stepped out-of-bounds. Television replays showed he clearly did not step out-of-bounds (video replay was instituted 25 years later in 2006).

Running back Larry Key and centre Al Wilson made the CFL all-star team.

This season marked the first time in Lions history that every regular season (16 in all) and playoff game (2) was televised.

Offseason

CFL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	School

Preseason

Game	Date	Opponent	Results		Venue	Attendance
			Score	Record

Regular season

Season standings

West Division

Team	GP	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pts
Edmonton Eskimos	16	14	1	1	576	277	29
Winnipeg Blue Bombers	16	11	5	0	517	299	22
BC Lions	16	10	6	0	438	377	20
Saskatchewan Roughriders	16	9	7	0	431	371	18
Calgary Stampeders	16	6	10	0	306	367	12

Season schedule

Week	Game	Date	Opponent	Results
				Score	Record
1	1	July 4	vs. Montreal Alouettes	W 48–8	1–0
2	Bye
3	2	July 16	at Toronto Argonauts	W 32–28	2–0
4	3	July 25	vs. Ottawa Rough Riders	W 31–17	3–0
5	4	July 31	at Calgary Stampeders	W 52–29	4–0
6	5	Aug 9	at Saskatchewan Roughriders	W 28–24	5–0
7	6	Aug 16	vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats	L 23–37	5–1
8	7	Aug 23	at Montreal Alouettes	W 29–14	6–1
9	8	Aug 29	vs. Calgary Stampeders	W 31–21	7–1
10	9	Sept 4	at Ottawa Rough Riders	L 7–17	7–2
11	10	Sept 13	at Edmonton Eskimos	L 21–38	7–3
12	11	Sept 19	vs. Toronto Argonauts	W 45–14	8–3
13	12	Sept 27	at Winnipeg Blue Bombers	L 10–46	8–4
14	13	Oct 3	vs. Edmonton Eskimos	L 12–22	8–5
15	Bye
16	14	Oct 17	vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers	L 22–49	8–6
17	15	Oct 25	at Hamilton Tiger-Cats	W 34–7	9–6
18	16	Oct 31	vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders	W 13–5	10–6

Playoffs

West Semi-Final

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
BC Lions	0	11	3	1	15
Winnipeg Blue Bombers	7	1	0	3	11

West Final

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
BC Lions	3	13	0	0	16
Edmonton Eskimos	6	3	6	7	22

Offensive leaders

Player	Passing yds	Rushing yds	Receiving yds	TD
Joe Paopao	3777	25	0	0
Larry Key		1098	237	19
John Henry White		482	386	1
Tyrone Gray		10	1428	9
Ricky Ellis		13	594	4
Al Charuk		0	582	5
Harry Holt		4	367	2

Awards and records

1981 CFL All-Stars

• RB – Larry Key, CFL All-Star
• C – Al Wilson, CFL All-Star

1981 CFL Western All-Stars

• RB – Larry Key, CFL Western All-Star
• WR – Tyrone Grey, CFL All-Star
• C – Al Wilson, CFL Western All-Star