Big news came out of Denver on Wednesday afternoon as head coach Vic Fangio informed his players that he has named Teddy Bridgewater as the team’s starting quarterback. The Broncos will kick the regular season off on Sept. 12 against the New York Giants.

Just last week, we wrote about how Fangio would be wise to name a starter before the team’s third and final preseason game. Fangio apparently shared our sentiment. All things considered, Fangio has appeared to make the right decision here… for now.

Denver’s most realistic chance at a successful season in 2021 includes the forming of a strong rushing duo by Melvin Gordon and Javonte Williams, playing great team defense, and employing a quarterback that takes care of the football. On the latter point, Bridgewater has proven much more capable of doing that than Lock has. Lock’s 15 interceptions a year ago is three more than Bridgewater has ever thrown in a single campaign. Considering the fact that Bridgewater’s season-high 12 interceptions came when he was a rookie in 2014, there’s no doubt which signal-caller is better at keeping possession for his team.

Credit goes to both Bridgewater and Lock, who have not made this an easy decision for Fangio to make. Through two preseason games, Bridgewater is 16-of-19 with 179 yards and two touchdowns. It represents a ridiculous completion percentage of 84.2%. Lock has performed admirably in his own right, by going 14-for-21 with 231 yards and two touchdowns. Beyond the pair of exhibition games, training camp has done little to separate these two with reports being mostly positive on both signal-callers.

Most importantly, this decision gives everyone else in the Broncos’ organization clarity on where they stand at the quarterback position. Offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur can now begin installing his game plan for the Week 1 game against the Giants knowing which quarterback will be under center.

Not all is lost for Lock, but it’s a significant blow to his chances of becoming the team’s long-term starter. He has nobody to blame but himself, after a disappointment-filled 2020 campaign opened the door for Denver to look elsewhere in the first place. It can’t feel good for the former Missouri quarterback, but he should take solace in the fact that Bridgewater will likely be on a short leash.

Unfortunately for Broncos fans, we have a feeling we’ll be writing plenty about the team’s QB situation in the coming months.