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Whether Jacques Chapdelaine returns as Alouettes’ head coach next season, indeed whether this team wins another game, seems inconsequential at this juncture. With one drastic, yet well-orchestrated, move on Monday, Chapdelaine displayed the intestinal fortitude required for the position moving forward.

Montreal’s interim head coach, following three games on the job, decided this team no longer could function with receivers Duron Carter and Kenny Stafford. Perhaps of more significance, he persuaded general manager Jim Popp of as much. Popp, who has had the final say on all personnel matters during his two decades with the team — and the man responsible for signing both players last winter as high-priced free agents — then decided to release both rather than placing them on the six-game injured list.

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Photo by Jeff McIntosh / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Popp was the Als’ head coach for the first 12 games this year, of which Montreal lost nine. In supporting Chapdelaine, the argument could be made Popp also has admitted it was a mistake signing both. We also can state this much with a degree of certainty — if Chapdelaine’s going down, he’s going to make sure it’s on his own terms.