Courtesy Regina Leader Post:

The Saskatchewan Roughriders were eviscerated in their regular-season finale. All denizens of the Rider Nation, rejoice!

Saturday’s 41-13 CFL loss to the visiting Toronto Argonauts may prove to be a good omen. After all, Saskatchewan rebounded from humbling conclusions to the regular season in 1989 and 1997 — the last two seasons in which the Roughriders reached the Grey Cup.

In 1989, the Roughriders were vivisected 49-17 by the Edmonton Eskimos, only to respond with three successive playoff victories — including a 43-40 conquest of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Grey Cup.

Eight years later, the Roughriders were truly scary on Halloween, losing a 55-9 nailbiter to the host Winnipeg Blue Bombers. The Roughriders responded with back-to-back victories in the West Division playoffs before losing 47-23 to Toronto with Lord Grey’s grail at stake.

“I remember that one in Winnipeg,” 13th-year Riders offensive lineman Gene Makowsky said after Saturday’s stinker. “That wasn’t very pretty, either.”

The most recent rout was truly unsightly. Longtime observers of the Green and White were left to wonder how long it had been since a similarly somniferous Roughriders game.

After the seemingly interminable game, Roughriders head coach Kent Austin was asked if he was concerned about a possible loss of momentum approaching Sunday’s rare home playoff game against the Calgary Stampeders.

“You take the last six games collectively and we’re 5-and-1, so it’s pretty good,” Austin noted.

Please note that Austin was hardly dismissive of Saturday’s performance. He was clearly perturbed by his team’s ineptitude before a sixth successive sellout crowd of 28,800. The fans were more inclined to show up than the players, by all appearances.

In recent weeks, Austin has repeatedly underlined the importance of playing at a high level entering the playoffs. Saturday’s lopsided loss, which snapped a five-game winning streak, was in divergence to his blueprint.

But all is not lost. Austin can attest to that. He was the Riders’ starting quarterback on Nov. 5, 1989, when Edmonton won by 32 points. Two weeks later, Saskatchewan returned to Commonwealth Stadium and shocked the overconfident Eskimos 32-21 in the West Division final.

Moral of story: The events of the regular season, while important, do not necessarily foreshadow what will transpire in the playoffs.

Entering Saturday’s game, Saskatchewan had done more than enough in the regular season to earn the franchise’s first home playoff game since 1988. With second place secured, the Riders’ playoff fortunes were not going to be influenced by the outcome against Toronto.

“It’s not worth a second thought because we’ve got Calgary now,” defensive tackle Scott Schultz noted after Saskatchewan completed its regular season with a 12-6 slate.

At long last, the Roughriders can finally focus entirely on the home playoff game without distractions such as obligatory late-regular-season games.

“You walk a litle bit of a line there, keeping yourself composed and not thinking about it,” Schultz said of the long-anticipated Calgary game. “Well, now it’s here. It’s the 800-pound gorilla in the room. Now we can face it front-on and take it.”

Schultz was quick to downplay the eyesore against Edmonton.

“It’s more for a fan who wants to think about these things and put together their conspiracy theories and all that kind of stuff,” Schultz said. “It’s not for a professional athlete to think about. This is when you find where the real professional athletes are. You’re going to see the ones who can put this out of their mind and focus on the task at hand.”

But some fans may fret after paying good money to endure Saturday’s game.

“You can sit there and think and postulate all you want about, ‘Ohhh, what happened in that last game?’ ” Schultz said. “But it doesn’t matter. It’s over. It’s done. Luckily, what we’ve done all season has guaranteed us a playoff spot and a home playoff spot. I’m not going to waste any time thinking about this (Toronto game) at all.”

Neither should inhabitants of the Rider Nation. History is on their side