| 1971 CFL season | ||
|---|---|---|
| Playoffs | ||
| East Champions | Toronto Argonauts | |
| West Champions | Calgary Stampeders | |
| 59th Grey Cup | ||
| Champions | Calgary Stampeders | |
| ||
The 1971 Canadian Football League season is considered to be the 18th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it was officially the 14th Canadian Football League season.
CFL News for 1971
The Grey Cup Championship was played on artificial turf for the first time in Vancouver. The BC Lions also wore special "CCC"-logo helmets to commemorate the Canadian Confederation Centennial of British Columbia, the province having entered into Canadian Confederation a hundred years earlier, in 1871. The flower in the centre of the "CCC" logo is the pacific dogwood, the official provincial flower of British Columbia.
All CFL teams had their player's last names appearing on the jersey backs (at shoulder height, below the back number) beginning this season.
This would be the last year until 2006 that the Edmonton Eskimos would miss the playoffs; in the intervening years, they would reach the playoffs for 33 straight years.
Regular season standings
Final regular season standings
Note: GP = Games Played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pts = Points
| Team | GP | W | L | T | PF | PA | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calgary Stampeders | 16 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 290 | 218 | 19 |
| Saskatchewan Roughriders | 16 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 347 | 316 | 19 |
| Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 16 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 366 | 349 | 15 |
| BC Lions | 16 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 282 | 363 | 13 |
| Edmonton Eskimos | 16 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 237 | 305 | 12 |
| Team | GP | W | L | T | PF | PA | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Argonauts | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 289 | 248 | 20 |
| Hamilton Tiger-Cats | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 242 | 246 | 14 |
| Ottawa Rough Riders | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 291 | 277 | 12 |
| Montreal Alouettes | 14 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 226 | 248 | 12 |
- Bold text indicates that the team clinched a playoff berth.
- Calgary and Toronto had first round byes.
1971 Grey Cup Playoffs
Conference Semi-Finals
| Winnipeg Blue Bombers @ Saskatchewan Roughriders | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date | Away | Home |
| November 6 | Winnipeg Blue Bombers 23 | Saskatchewan Roughriders 34 |
| Ottawa Rough Riders @ Hamilton Tiger-Cats | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date | Away | Home |
| November 7 | Ottawa Rough Riders 4 | Hamilton Tiger-Cats 23 |
Conference Finals
| Saskatchewan Roughriders vs Calgary Stampeders | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game | Date | Away | Home |
| 1 | November 13 | Saskatchewan Roughriders 21 | Calgary Stampeders 30 |
| 2 | November 17 | Calgary Stampeders 23 | Saskatchewan Roughriders 21 |
| Calgary won best-of-three series 2–0 | |||
| Toronto Argonauts vs Hamilton Tiger-Cats | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game | Date | Away | Home |
| 1 | November 14 | Toronto Argonauts 23 | Hamilton Tiger-Cats 8 |
| 2 | November 20 | Hamilton Tiger-Cats 17 | Toronto Argonauts 17 |
| Toronto won two-game total-point series 40–25 | |||
Playoff bracket
| Division Semifinals | Division Finals | 59th Grey Cup | |||||||||||
| East | E1 | Toronto Argonauts | 40 (23+17) | ||||||||||
| E2 | Hamilton Tiger Cats | 23 | E2 | Hamilton Tiger Cats | 25 (8+17) | ||||||||
| E3 | Ottawa Rough Riders | 4 | E1 | Toronto Argonauts | 11 | ||||||||
| W1 | Calgary Stampeders | 14 | |||||||||||
| West | W1 | Calgary Stampeders | 2 (30,23) | ||||||||||
| W2 | Saskatchewan Roughriders | 34 | W2 | Saskatchewan Roughriders | 0 (21,21) | ||||||||
| W3 | Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 23 | |||||||||||
Grey Cup Championship
| November 28 59th Annual Grey Cup Game: Empire Stadium – Vancouver, British Columbia | |
|---|---|
| Western Champion | Eastern Champion |
| Calgary Stampeders 14 | Toronto Argonauts 11 |
| The Calgary Stampeders were 1971 Grey Cup Champions | |
| |
1971 CFL All-Stars
Offence
- QB – Don Jonas, Winnipeg Blue Bombers
- RB – George Reed, Saskatchewan Roughriders
- RB – Jim Evenson, BC Lions
- RB – Leon McQuay, Toronto Argonauts
- TE – Mel Profit, Toronto Argonauts
- SE – Jim Thorpe, Winnipeg Blue Bombers
- WR – Bob LaRose, Winnipeg Blue Bombers
- C – Bob Swift, Winnipeg Blue Bombers
- OG – Jack Abendschan, Saskatchewan Roughriders
- OG – Granville Liggins, Calgary Stampeders
- OT – Bill Frank, Winnipeg Blue Bombers
- OT – Ed George, Montreal Alouettes
Defence
- DT – John Helton, Calgary Stampeders
- DT – Jim Stillwagon, Toronto Argonauts
- DE – Jim Corrigall, Toronto Argonauts
- DE – Craig Koinzan, Calgary Stampeders
- LB – Wayne Harris, Calgary Stampeders
- LB – Mark Kosmos, Montreal Alouettes
- LB – Jerry Campbell, Ottawa Rough Riders
- DB – Dick Dupuis, Edmonton Eskimos
- DB – Frank Andruski, Calgary Stampeders
- DB – Garney Henley, Hamilton Tiger-Cats
- DB – Marv Luster, Toronto Argonauts
- DB – Dick Thornton, Toronto Argonauts
1971 Eastern All-Stars
Offence
- QB – Joe Theismann, Toronto Argonauts
- RB – Dennis Duncan, Ottawa Rough Riders
- RB – Bruce Van Ness, Montreal Alouettes
- RB – Leon McQuay, Toronto Argonauts
- TE – Mel Profit, Toronto Argonauts
- SE – Terry Evanshen, Montreal Alouettes
- WR – Mike Eben, Toronto Argonauts
- C – Paul Desjardins, Toronto Argonauts
- OG – Charlie Bray, Toronto Argonauts
- OG – Justin Canale, Montreal Alouettes
- OT – Ellison Kelly, Toronto Argonauts
- OT – Ed George, Montreal Alouettes
Defence
- DT – Rudy Sims, Ottawa Rough Riders
- DT – Jim Stillwagon, Toronto Argonauts
- DE – Jim Corrigall, Toronto Argonauts
- DE – Tom Laputka, Ottawa Rough Riders
- LB – Mike Blum, Hamilton Tiger-Cats
- LB – Mark Kosmos, Montreal Alouettes
- LB – Steve Smear, Montreal Alouettes
- DB – Johnny Williams, Hamilton Tiger-Cats
- DB – Gene Gaines, Montreal Alouettes
- DB – Garney Henley, Hamilton Tiger-Cats
- DB – Marv Luster, Toronto Argonauts
- DB – Dick Thornton, Toronto Argonauts
1971 Western All-Stars
Offence
- QB – Don Jonas, Winnipeg Blue Bombers
- RB – George Reed, Saskatchewan Roughriders
- RB – Jim Evenson, BC Lions
- RB – Mack Herron, Winnipeg Blue Bombers
- TE – Herm Harrison, Calgary Stampeders
- SE – Jim Thorpe, Winnipeg Blue Bombers
- WR – Bob LaRose, Winnipeg Blue Bombers
- C – Bob Swift, Winnipeg Blue Bombers
- C – Basil Bark, Calgary Stampeders
- OG – Jack Abendschan, Saskatchewan Roughriders
- OG – Granville Liggins, Calgary Stampeders
- OT – Bill Frank, Winnipeg Blue Bombers
- OT – Ken Sugarman, BC Lions
Defence
- DT – John Helton, Calgary Stampeders
- DT – John LaGrone, Edmonton Eskimos
- DE – Bill Baker, Saskatchewan Roughriders
- DE – Dick Suderman, Calgary Stampeders
- DE – Craig Koinzan, Calgary Stampeders
- LB – Wayne Harris, Calgary Stampeders
- LB – Dave Gasser, Edmonton Eskimos
- LB – Rob McLaren, Winnipeg Blue Bombers
- LB – Wayne Shaw, Saskatchewan Roughriders
- DB – Dick Dupuis, Edmonton Eskimos
- DB – Frank Andruski, Calgary Stampeders
- DB – Bruce Bennett, Saskatchewan Roughriders
- DB – Larry Robinson, Calgary Stampeders
- DB – Howard Starks, Calgary Stampeders
1971 CFL Awards
- CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award – Don Jonas (QB), Winnipeg Blue Bombers
- CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award – Terry Evanshen (WR), Montreal Alouettes
- CFL's Most Outstanding Lineman Award – Wayne Harris (LB), Calgary Stampeders
- CFL's Coach of the Year – Leo Cahill, Toronto Argonauts
- Jeff Russel Memorial Trophy (Eastern MVP) – Mel Profit (TE), Toronto Argonauts
- Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy (Western MVP) - Don Jonas (QB), Winnipeg Blue Bombers
- Gruen Trophy (Eastern Rookie of the Year) - Jim Foley (SB), Montreal Alouettes
- Dr. Beattie Martin Trophy (Western Rookie of the Year) - Bob Kraemer (DB), Winnipeg Blue Bombers
- DeMarco–Becket Memorial Trophy (Western Outstanding Lineman) - Wayne Harris (LB), Calgary Stampeders