# 1981 BC Lions season

The 1981 BC Lions finished in third place in the West Division with a 10–6 record.
Joe Paopao had an excellent season with 3777 yards passing and 28 passing touchdowns and running back Larry Key had 19 touchdowns in a bounceback season after missing most of the 1980 season due to injury. Wideout Ty Gray had a breakout season with 1428 yards receiving.
The Lions beat Winnipeg in the West Semi-Final, but fell to the Eskimos 22–16 in the Western Final when Warren Moon hit Brian Kelly for a late 4th quarter touchdown. The Western Final included a game changing officiating error involving a Devon Ford kickoff return for a Lions touchdown when the officials incorrectly stated he stepped out-of-bounds. Television replays showed he clearly did not step out-of-bounds (video replay was instituted 25 years later in 2006).
Running back Larry Key and centre Al Wilson made the CFL all-star team.
This season marked the first time in Lions history that every regular season (16 in all) and playoff game (2) was televised.

## Offseason
### CFL Draft

| Round | Pick | Player | Position | School |

## Preseason

| Game | Date | Opponent | Results | Results | Venue | Attendance |
| Game | Date | Opponent | Score | Record | Venue | Attendance |

## Regular season
### Season standings

West Division :
| Team | GP | W | L | T | PF | PA | Pts |
| Edmonton Eskimos | 16 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 576 | 277 | 29 |
| Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 16 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 517 | 299 | 22 |
| BC Lions | 16 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 438 | 377 | 20 |
| Saskatchewan Roughriders | 16 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 431 | 371 | 18 |
| Calgary Stampeders | 16 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 306 | 367 | 12 |

### Season schedule

| Week | Game | Date | Opponent | Results | Results |
| Week | Game | Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 1 | 1 | July 4 | vs. Montreal Alouettes | W 48–8 | 1–0 |
| 2 | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye |
| 3 | 2 | July 16 | at Toronto Argonauts | W 32–28 | 2–0 |
| 4 | 3 | July 25 | vs. Ottawa Rough Riders | W 31–17 | 3–0 |
| 5 | 4 | July 31 | at Calgary Stampeders | W 52–29 | 4–0 |
| 6 | 5 | Aug 9 | at Saskatchewan Roughriders | W 28–24 | 5–0 |
| 7 | 6 | Aug 16 | vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats | L 23–37 | 5–1 |
| 8 | 7 | Aug 23 | at Montreal Alouettes | W 29–14 | 6–1 |
| 9 | 8 | Aug 29 | vs. Calgary Stampeders | W 31–21 | 7–1 |
| 10 | 9 | Sept 4 | at Ottawa Rough Riders | L 7–17 | 7–2 |
| 11 | 10 | Sept 13 | at Edmonton Eskimos | L 21–38 | 7–3 |
| 12 | 11 | Sept 19 | vs. Toronto Argonauts | W 45–14 | 8–3 |
| 13 | 12 | Sept 27 | at Winnipeg Blue Bombers | L 10–46 | 8–4 |
| 14 | 13 | Oct 3 | vs. Edmonton Eskimos | L 12–22 | 8–5 |
| 15 | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye |
| 16 | 14 | Oct 17 | vs. Winnipeg Blue Bombers | L 22–49 | 8–6 |
| 17 | 15 | Oct 25 | at Hamilton Tiger-Cats | W 34–7 | 9–6 |
| 18 | 16 | Oct 31 | vs. Saskatchewan Roughriders | W 13–5 | 10–6 |

## Playoffs
### West Semi-Final

| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Total |
| BC Lions | 0 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 15 |
| Winnipeg Blue Bombers | 7 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 11 |

### West Final

| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Total |
| BC Lions | 3 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Edmonton Eskimos | 6 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 22 |

### Offensive leaders

| Player | Passing yds | Rushing yds | Receiving yds | TD |
| Joe Paopao | 3777 | 25 | 0 | 0 |
| Larry Key | | 1098 | 237 | 19 |
| John Henry White | | 482 | 386 | 1 |
| Tyrone Gray | | 10 | 1428 | 9 |
| Ricky Ellis | | 13 | 594 | 4 |
| Al Charuk | | 0 | 582 | 5 |
| Harry Holt | | 4 | 367 | 2 |

## Awards and records
### 1981 CFL All-Stars

* RB – Larry Key, CFL All-Star
* C – Al Wilson, CFL All-Star

### 1981 CFL Western All-Stars

* RB – Larry Key, CFL Western All-Star
* WR – Tyrone Grey, CFL All-Star
* C – Al Wilson, CFL Western All-Star