Colts fans rejoice as Joe Flacco sentenced back to the bench for Anthony Richardson

This year has been rough for Anthony Richardson, who showed a lot of good, but a lot of bad for the Indianapolis Colts. But considering he barely played last year due to a shoulder injury, the expectation was that he would learn from those mistakes throughout the season. But then, Colts head coach Shane Steichen benched Richardson in favor of Joe Flacco ahead of Week 9 against the Minnesota Vikings. After a loss, Steichen again stuck with Flacco in their Week 10 games against the Buffalo Bills. Steichen again stuck with Flacco.

But on Wednesday, Steichen changed his mind, and announced that Richardson is returning as the starting quarterback for their Week 11 matchup against the New York Jets.

So after two brutal outings, Flacco was relegated back to the bench. Let's just say that Colts fans were thrilled with the news that Richardson is starting again.

Colts fans thrilled about Anthony Richardson returning as starting quarterback

Richardson made waves during Indianapolis' Week 8 game against the Houston Texans when he asked to be taken out of the game briefly because he was "tired." Shortly after this game, Steichen announced that Richardson was demoted and that Flacco would take over the reins as starting quarterback.

Flacco did provide some hope, considering he helped lead the Cleveland Browns to the playoffs last year. But last year was last year.

In Week 9, Flacco threw for 179 yards, zero touchdowns, and one interception while completing 16-of-27 pass attempts in the 21-13 loss to the Vikings. This was one of the worst offensive performances of the season. This past Sunday, Flacco threw for 272 yards, two touchdowns, and three interceptions while completing 26-of-35 pass attempts in the 30-20 loss to the Bills.

Richardson now gets the keys to the offense back, likely for the rest of the season. Richardson threw for 958 yards, four touchdowns, and seven interceptions while completing 44.4 percent of his passes.

After just two games, the Flacco era in Indianapolis reached its end.