The Montreal Alouettes' season took another difficult turn on Saturday, as the team dropped a 36-18 final to the BC Lions and saw third-string quarterback Caleb Evans exit with an ACL injury.

That loss marked three in a row for the former East Division leaders and dropped them to 5-5, a game behind the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the standings.

With Evans placed on Injured Reserve with a torn ACL, the Alouettes now turn to their fourth quarterback of the year, James Morgan, to start in Week 12's game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Thursday.

Als head coach Jason Maas still has hope that the season can be turned around, even amidst the tough injury luck.

Maas joined the Morning Show on TSN1200 Montreal Wednesday morning to discuss the plan at quarterback, the expectations for Morgan and the matchup against the Blue Bombers.

"It's obviously a challenge," Maas said of moving to the fourth QB on the depth chart. "But the good thing for us is James has been with us for over a year. He was here through training camp with us, and if anybody's prepared to play as a fourth guy, it's him."

Evans suffered his season-ending injury on the first play of the second quarter, and Morgan was thrust into action with the Alouettes trailing 9-3.

Morgan started slowly in his first career CFL action - with three two-and-outs in a row, and three sacks taken in those six plays. But the 28-year-old rounded into form as the game went on.

"The thing I loved about [Morgan] was when we went over to him and said 'alright, it's you, you're going, are you comfortable with everything?' He said 'without a doubt, call the game, don't worry about me,' so all we had to do was just go through it," Maas said.

"When James said 'okay, call the game,' all we had to do was locate," said Maas. "He hadn't repped any plays, but the plays that didn't really fit him and were more for Caleb, we just took those out and rolled with our gameplan calls.

"He was able to go out there and call it and feel comfortable, and you could see that by the way he was going through his progressions, accurate with his throws, giving us a chance, standing in the pocket and getting hit, he didn't care, it didn't phase him, and moving on to the next."

Morgan finished the game 20-of-33 for 211 yards, with a touchdown and an interception.

Davis Alexander started out of camp for Montreal, but two separate injuries have limited him to only four starts. Veteran signal caller McLeod Bethel-Thompson has made six starts, but is now also on the six-game injured list with an elbow injury suffered two weeks ago against the Edmonton Elks.

With different quarterbacks under centre each of the past three weeks in practice, Maas noted the difficulty in preparation that can arise - especially with the offensive line. But he's confident their focus can keep the unit aligned.

"The thing with the offensive line is... The way we call the offence, the drops that we have, the drops are similar, the depths are similar, they know the launch points from the quarterback and really that's what they're protecting," said Maas.

"Obviously you have quarterbacks that have different strengths: moving in the pocket, navigating the pocket and getting outside the pocket, but for the most part they're protecting a spot and for them, that's what they have to understand and that's what they do very well."

While the adjustments in QB mobility will prove a challenge for the offensive line, it doesn't rest solely on them to step up to help Morgan in his first career start.

"When you're down to your fourth-string quarterback, the whole team has to understand that, and we've gotta up our game - all of us do - to rally around him," Maas said. 

"We're excited to do that, I'll tell you that. If you watched our practice yesterday, it was probably as good of energy as we've seen us have all year, and that's saying something, coming off a short week, travelling across the country, a beat up team."

The Alouettes have multiple players practising but are not quite ready to return, as Maas listed all of Alexander, wide receivers Austin Mack, Tyson Philpot and James Letcher Jr., and defensive starters Mustafa Johnson and Marc-Antoine Duqouy as "getting closer, but not quite ready."

The Alouettes get their first look of the Blue Bombers this season on Thursday: a team they split the season series against last year, and defeated 28-24 in the Grey Cup two seasons ago.

You can watch the Alouettes and Blue Bombers battle LIVE on TSN1/3/5, TSN.ca and the TSN App, with coverage on Thursday starting at 7:30p.m. ET / 4:30p.m. PT.

Maas is excited for the challenge and knows the team is raring to go.

"To go out there and compete like we did [in practice] yesterday, you can tell the guys are ready to do that, rally around the 45 guys [in the lineup with] James being one of the 45."