CFL.ca Staff

VANCOUVER -- The BC Lions are no strangers to adversity.

Following a setback in recent weeks, the defending Grey Cup champions need only look back to the beginning of last season for the recipe to bounce back.

The story of the 2011 Lions has been told in detail several times before. After stumbling out of the gate to a 0-5 record, the Lions recovered by winning 14 of their ensuing 16 games, including the first two of this season.

However, consecutive losses to the Roughriders and Eskimos have forced some heads across the league to rise in wonder; is this a late version of a Grey Cup hangover? Or, less dramatically, are they just simple losses that any other team would go through at any given point of the season.

Either way, Lions head coach Mike Benevides isn't satisfied with his team's effort as of late.

"It's a challenge, but what we have to do - as a collective team - we have to play complimentary football, we have to find a way in all three facets to make it better for us," said Benevides.

"We did that the first two weeks, and we haven't done that. So we have to find a way to make the field shorter and somehow get into the end zone," added the first-year head coach.
The recent setback also marked the first stretch of chellenges for Benevides as a head coach.

That's a challenge that Benevides says has his team motivated to succeed.

"The guys are practicing hard and the guys are playing hard," noted Benevides. "You never want to lose, we're in this to win and we've lost now and I'm not happy about it and neither are the guys. We have to find a way to get better."

"The men in that room aren't happy about it, they've been through this before. It's all about winning and we have to find a way to get it done."

The Lions will hit the road for the second time this season, as they travel to Calgary to take on the Stampeders on Saturday night at McMahon Stadium.