In last Sunday's NFC Championship Game, the New Orleans Saints were driving late in the contest when the NFL officiating crew missed the textbook definition of pass interference. Needless to say, the entire Saints organization and fanbase went ballistic. Such a closely-contested and high-stakes game was essentially decided by the referees.

Of course, New Orleans had chances to win the game after this happened, but if the right call were made, they could have just ran out the clock and kicked a last-second field goal to win the game, instead of losing in overtime.

The Saints were also the beneficiary of a terrible pass interference call earlier this season, when Pittsburgh's Joe Haden lightly brushed the back of Alvin Kamara.

Pass interference isn't the only thing refs are struggling with. Just ask any Browns fan. Cleveland fell victim to bad calls on ball spots, forward progress on sacks, and an an early TD signal against Baltimore that wiped away a 99-yard fumble return. Officials have always been scrutinized, but things have never been this bad. It's time to make some changes, both to help officials, and to protect teams from their incompetence.

5. Call forward progress correctly

Forward progress has its pros and cons, and while there is an argument to be made for its removal, that would be a major rule change, something the NFL probably isn't ready for with all of its other issues. One thing the league can do is train its officials to actually call the rule correctly; when a runner is tackled, he is awarded the yardage he gained furthest from the line of scrimmage, whether he was tackled there or not. This rule is heavily judgement-based, and obviously isn't applied when a player is attempting to extend the play by reversing field. Here are two examples from the same game in which forward progress was called incorrectly, costing each team a big play.

All the referee had to do in each example was hold off on blowing his whistle for a few seconds. Trying to protect players (QBs in particular) is a good thing, but you can do that without affecting the outcome of games. The way forward progress is called must change.

4. Don't rush the touchdown signal

Goal-line touchdowns are interesting because they often aren't obvious. Sure, if the player is clearly in the endzone, then call the touchdown. But in a situation like this:

An early whistle completely changes the game. This was called a touchdown on the field. Not only did the officials get that wrong, their early whistle eliminated what happened afterwards; Jabrill Peppers had picked up the ball and returned it for a touchdown, but instead of six points, the Browns instead got the ball on their own six yardline. This blown call was especially frustrating because it could have easily been avoided.

Imagine for a moment that the refs didn't signal a touchdown and the play ended with Peppers scoring. Even if Jackson had broken the plain with the ball, the call could have been reversed, and Jackson awarded a touchdown. But in reality, because the refs called the play a touchdown, the ball was dead where Peppers recovered it. Officials should be trained to let the play go as long as possible, because even if they miss the touchdown, it's an easy fix. That certainly isn't the case for the inverse.

3. Implement a punishment system that is actually utilized

The NFL does have a punishment system for referees, and there are examples of it being used. There have been fines handed out, and one official was even fired this season, for the first time in the Super Bowl era. This was because the ref missed a blatant false start that cost the Browns (surprise!) a touchdown.

With the amount of terrible calls in the league every week, there is a major discrepancy in the number of punishments handed out. It seems like players are fined for the smallest of infractions, while a referee can change the outcome of multiple games without the league doing anything about it. Of course a team doesn't want to leave the result of a game up to the officials, but with how competitive the NFL has become, the power refs hold has grown. They must be held accountable for their mistakes, so they don't feel comfortable making them in the future.

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2. Implement high-tech camera systems at the goal-line

This is related to point #4 on this list, and would make that change much easier. The World Cup has used state-of-the-art video systems in order to eliminate human error as much as possible. It seems like every week color commentators are trying to determine whether or not the football ever broke the white line signaling the beginning of the endzone. Having a camera system dedicated to performing this task would make officials' lives easier, and would eliminate the need for referees to make costly calls like that in the Baltimore vs. Cleveland game.

1. Make penalties challenge-able

Roger Goodell, NFL

This would be by far the most impactful rule change on this list, and would have directly affected the Rams/Saints game. While this could solve many problems, it also has the potential to create new ones, so we must first protect against that. The number of coach's challenges now increases to three per game, with the chance to earn a fourth if all three are successful.

The coach must specify which penalty he is challenging, or where he believes a penalty can occur. The officials may review only that specific part of the play. All penalty challenges will be decided by a team at NFL officiating headquarters in New York, in order to remove as much bias as possible (no one likes to admit they are wrong).

This change would introduce a new level of strategy for coaches; should he challenge the spot on that third-down call in the second quarter, or save that challenge for a possible late-game penalty? Blown calls would still be serious, but now have much less of a chance at completely changing a game's result. It's a far better solution to bad calls than the typical post-game acknowledgement from the NFL.