The Denver Broncos decided enough was enough with Joe Flacco, playing him on injured reserve (per ESPN's Adam Schefter) with a herniated disc in his neck and, therefore, ending a disastrous first season with the team. The Broncos will start Brandon Allen for Sunday's game against the Cleveland Browns and will promote undrafted rookie Brett Rypien from the practice squad. 

The saga that led to Flacco hitting injured reserve has been an interesting one. The Broncos first announced Flacco would miss the following week, and potentially even more time due to a herniated disk in his neck. This came a day after Flacco made comments that the Broncos were "afraid to lose a game," questioning the coaching staff's decision to run the ball on a third and 7 with a 13-12 lead and two minutes remaining. Denver gave the ball back to the Colts, which ended up winning on an Adam Vinateri game-winning field goal in the final 30 seconds. 

Then came Thursday's report on Flacco's herniated disc, which was a situation where Flacco may be able to avoid IR, but would still need to miss multiple weeks in order to recover. According to Schefter, a second opinion on Flacco's neck indicated that he did not require surgery, but would still miss four to six weeks. The Broncos appeared unwilling to wait any longer before making the final decision on Flacco. 

Flacco's first season in Denver was a disaster, completing 65.3 percent of his passes for 1,822 yards, six touchdowns and five interceptions for an 85.1 passer rating. He's averaging 3.5 yards per attempt and ranks tied for 26th in touchdown passes, last in touchdown percentage (2.3) and 25th in yards per completion.

Allen, a 2016 sixth-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars, will be making his first NFL start Sunday. He has never played a NFL regular season game as the Broncos lack significant experience at the quarterback position with Allen and Rypien never playing a game and rookie second-round pick Drew Lock on injured reserve. 

Flacco has two years remaining on a restructured deal, being owed $23.65 million in 2020 and $27.65 million in 2021. The Broncos could cut their losses and save $10.05 million in cap space after the season with his release, which is possible given Flacco's play and the Broncos poor performance on offense with him as the starting quarterback. 

Flacco's tenure in Denver isn't over, but it sure seems to be trending toward that direction.