(Photo credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images)

Friday night might just show everyone how much trouble the Montreal Alouettes are really in.

If they can't beat the visiting Edmonton Elks, when can they be expected to win again with starting quarterback Davis Alexander on the shelf?

It certainly wasn't Saturday night, when Montreal was boat-raced 34-6 at home by Saskatchewan. Fill-in quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson was again ineffective, completing 15 of 26 passes for 126 yards and tossing an interception. He was briefly benched in the third quarter but returned when Caleb Evans failed to provide a spark.

'A lot of things went wrong,' Bethel-Thompson told the Montreal Gazette. 'First and foremost, the quarterback didn't execute. I could have made some plays that would have kept us on the field. After that performance last week, I definitely want to bounce back.'

Injuries haven't helped the Alouettes (5-3). Besides Alexander's absence, the team continues to play without receivers Austin Mack and Tyson Philpot. And safety Marc-Antoine Dequoy (shoulder) will also miss Friday's game, along with center Justin Lawrence (knee).

While Montreal fields a battered roster, Edmonton (1-6) owns the league's worst record. It lost 28-24 on Saturday to visiting Hamilton when receiver Kaion Julien-Grant dropped a potential game-winning touchdown in the last seconds.

The Elks have shown signs of life in narrow losses the last two weeks against division leaders Saskatchewan and Hamilton with Cody Fajardo replacing Tre Ford at quarterback.

Fajardo, who led the Alouettes to the 2023 Grey Cup title, hit his first 17 passes last week against Hamilton and has thrown for 603 yards over the past two games.

Edmonton's playoff hopes are already on something akin to life support, given it must pass three other teams over the last 11 games of the season. But Fajardo said the team still retains belief.

''Process through pain,' I think, is what we're going through right now, and learning through pain,' Fajardo said. 'We kind of have a fork in the road right now. We can either go one way, stay positive, keep grinding, know we're close -- we just took two of the best teams in the league to a one-possession game -- or we can just go the other way and say, 'You know what, the season's out of reach.'

'I'm not getting any of that second part in that locker room.'

The Alouettes aim for a season sweep after toppling the Elks 38-28 on June 19 in Alberta.

--Field Level Media