When the CFL rules committee met last month in Regina, the first thing they said about coaches challenges and video review was “Let’s just get rid of all this.”

There have been so many additions to what is challengeable in recent years, the committee members wondered if they had gone too far and needed to blow it up and start over.

“We talked about scrapping it, we talked about reducing it, we talked about changing the challenges coaches had, we talked about giving them a penalty if they were wrong,” CFL vice-president of officiating Glen Johnson said at a media seminar on rules changes Wednesday at Investors Group Field.

Of course, it didn’t take long before they realized those idea made no sense. There are pros and cons to video reviews and coaches being able to challenge penalties, but in the end it’s all designed to get things right while maintaining the integrity of the game.

“I always kept coming back to this: The reason we brought this in was for big plays that mattered and to fix big mistakes,” Johnson said.

“Maybe we went a little bit too far and we’re going to bring it back a bit but I’d hate to see it disappear in it’s entirety.”

In 2015, the CFL became the first pro football league to allow coaches to challenge penalties, starting with pass interference. In 2016, they added seven more challengeable penalties and quickly discovered that it was creating a problem.

With coaches’ challenges sharply on the rise, the league took the drastic move of changing the rule mid-season. Any unsuccessful challenges would result in a team losing a timeout. Prior to that, only a second unsuccessful challenge resulted in the loss of a timeout.

Coaches challenges were up to 2.2 per game from 1.26 over the first nine weeks of last season. Challenges went down after the Week 10 rule change — 2.46 before the change, 2.2 after.

“Last year we brought in seven new penalties to be challengeable … no one had ever done that,” Johnson said. “When you innovate, sometimes it doesn’t always execute the way you drew it up. And we learned.

“The great thing about us is we didn’t wait. Halfway through last year we saw the issue that we had created and we fixed it. And we went down half a challenge a game after that.”

The people most affected by the rule change were the coaches, but it seems they applauded the move. Many of them are on the rules committee anyway.

“We need to attract more fans and one of the ways is to be able to make our game better, protect the integrity of our game, and the challenges have helped us do that,” B.C. Lions coach Wally Buono said.

“When you are a pioneer, you sometimes have to find your way and you sometimes have to adjust. It helped the flow of the game, it helped the quality of the game. The thing about the CFL and its people is we’re not afraid to go where nobody else has gone.”

Interestingly the NFL has talked in recent years about allowing its coaches to challenge all penalties and that league is keeping a close eye on what is going on north of the border.

“We don’t think that’s the right approach either,” Johnson said. “I’m not sure we’ve got it perfect yet, but I don’t think we’re far off. If we can get to a spot where challenges are done more expeditiously, it’s a more predictable outcome for everybody, and I think we’ll be in a better place.”

One significant change in 2017 will be the timing of commercials on TSN to coincide with coaches’ challenges. Once a challenge is initiated, TSN will try to go to a commercial. A coach will not be allowed to throw a flag more than 30 seconds into a commercial break.

“It’s going to keep getting better,” Ottawa RedBlacks coach Rick Campbell said.

“I think the CFL is taking chances by doing the pass interference and the other penalties, being more aggressive than the NFL.

“If you’re really safe and you don’t take chances, you’re not going to take as much heat. But at the same time, when you take chances, you get an opportunity to make things better and that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re going through some growing pains with it but I’m hopeful it’s all worth it in the end.”

Facts and figures about CFL officiating:

Penalties in 2016 down by 213 (13%) to 17.8 per game.

94% correct on called penalties

Missed penalties decreased from 6 per game to 5

Coaches challenges up to 2.2 per game from 1.26. Challenges went down after Week 10 rule change, 2.46 before change, 2.2 after.

Stopped game 20 times to auto review scoring plays, overturned ruling 10 times out of 1,300 plays

Stopped game 20 times to auto review a fumble lost or interception, overturned call 10 times out of 258 plays.

Instant replay timing, average length went down 17 seconds from 2015 to 85 seconds.

Changes for 2017:

No longer allow a coach to challenge a play after we come back from a TV commercial. Must be done within 30 seconds of commercial starting

Limit the types of actions challengeable under roughing the passer. Use pure definition of roughing the passer.

Increase the duties of the video official. Once flag is down on non-challengeable penalties, get play right

Change 10-yard illegal low block penalty on change of possession to 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalties

CFL is running clinics on safe tackling this month for every coaching staff

twyman@postmedia.com