The 1986Montreal Alouettes finished the season in third place in the East Division with a 4–14 record and missed the playoffs. The Montreal Concordes were renamed the Alouettes following the 1985 season to mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Alouettes. The Montreal Alouettes were facing severe financial difficulty, having lost close to $15 million between 1982–86, so having the CFL give a fourth place team in one division a playoff spot if its record was better than the third-place finisher in the other division was a disaster. When Calgary got a playoff spot over the Alouettes, the lost revenue for a playoff game further crippled the franchise, contributing to its demise shortly after the start of the following season. General manager Joe Galat left the team prior to the end of the season to take a position with the B.C. Lions on August 1. President Norm Kimball took over as GM until the end of the season