Bo Levi Mitchell's legacy is on the line in the Grey Cup

EDMONTON — In professional sports the mark of a champion, the way people measure success, always comes down to the number of championships an athlete won.

Getting to the big game and losing just isn't enough.

In fact, losing championship games can become the only thing an athlete is remembered for.

Calgary Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell is face-to-face with this reality now. Mitchell, 28, is preparing to start his fourth Grey Cup in the last five seasons.

He won the first championship he started in.

The past two haven't gone according to plan. Calgary has suffered back-to-back Grey Cup defeats when both could have very easily been victories.

"I knew it was never going to be easy. We could be 0-3 or we could be 3-0 in these Grey Cup games," Mitchell said. "It takes a lot of work and luck to get to this game."

Since becoming the starter in 2014, Mitchell has been nothing short of sensational.

His first full year with the team couldn't have gone any better. Mitchell went 7-0 to begin the 2014 season. He set team and CFL records along the way, leading the Stampeders to a Grey Cup victory in Vancouver over the Hamilton Tiger Cats. He was named the Grey Cup MVP. 

But it almost seemed too easy for the Katy, Texas native. Mitchell started talking about his legacy and plan a number of championships to the Calgary Stampeders organization early in his career.  

Yet for as good as Mitchell and the Stampeders have been over the last five seasons, they don't have the Grey Cup rings to show for it.

Grey Cup setbacks

In 2016, the mighty Stamps were 15–2-1 during the regular season. They were good and they knew it.

The team traveled to Toronto to take on the 8-9-1 Ottawa Redblacks.

To say Calgary was the heavy favourite is an understatement. Mitchell had an undeniable swagger heading into the game. But in a one-game showdown anything can happen and the Stampeders have learned that the hard way.

Henry Burris, in his final CFL game, led Ottawa to a thrilling overtime victory over Calgary. It was shocking. And it stung.

"We were a little overconfident and wearing our emotions on our sleeves, probably more than we should have," Mitchell said.

A year later, the Stamps' march to redemption was nearly complete. They once again overpowered their oppositionin the regular season, finishing a league-best 13-4-1 in 2017 and making it back to the Grey Cup.

It was almost a carbon-copy setup as the year before — taking on a lesser opponent in the 9-9 Toronto Argonauts.

The story seemed perfect for Mitchell and the Stamps to make up for 2016 heartbreak.

Instead, that heartbreak was ratcheted to a whole new level.

In a snow-globe setting in Ottawa, the Stamps stumbled and fumbled away the game.

Nobody will ever forget that heart-stopping 110-yard fumble return by the Argos' Cassius Vaughn with little more than four minutes left to tie the game — especially because it looked like Calgary was going to put the game away.

And then with eight seconds left, Mitchell threw a game-ending interception into the Toronto end zone when the Stampeders could have kicked a field goal and forced overtime.

Another opportunity squandered for Calgary during a period of dominant football.

"Last year we understood the situation," Mitchell said. "It just didn't play out the way we wanted it to."

3rd time a charm?

And here they are again. The Stampeders are in this all-too familiar spot.

They finished with the league's best record. They're favourites to win another championship going up against Ottawa. And yet maybe this dark cloud will continue to plague this franchise.

Mitchell has a different perspective on this. He understands the fine line between being close and winning it all.

"We can't win three Grey Cups this week. We can win one. I told the guys don't make this game bigger than it is. Don't try and redeem what happened in the past two years," he said.

At the end of the 2018 season Mitchell's contract runs out with the Stampeders. Rumours have been swirling this might be his last game in a Calgary uniform for a while as he entertains NFL aspirations.

But the quarterback isn't talking or thinking about that right now.

"That was the first time I had heard of that. I don't have a plan," Mitchell said. "The only thing I can control is getting the Calgary Stampeders to want to re-sign me and play my heart out."

On Thursday night in Edmonton during the CFL Awards, Mitchell was named Most Outstanding Player for a second time. The accolades and record-setting performances have been nice for Mitchell. But there's a lot more to do for a quarterback trying to make his mark and leave a legacy — one that has now become much bigger than winning and losing championship games. 

"I've been trying to change who I want to be as a man, father, husband. Becoming a better person each and every year and taking these moments and learning from them," Mitchell said.

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