Falcons bench Kirk Cousins for Michael Penix: Best memes and tweets

The Michael Penix era for the Atlanta Falcons is officially set to begin.

On Tuesday night, Falcons head coach Raheem Morris announced that Penix would be taking over for Kirk Cousins, whose struggles over the last few weeks opened the door for his benching.

"After review we have made the decision Michael Penix will be the Atlanta Falcons starting quarterback moving forward," Morris said in a statement. "This was a football decision and we are fully focused on preparing the team for Sunday's game against the New York Giants."

The Falcons signed Cousins to a massive contract in the offseason, but they hedged their bets by using their first-round pick on Penix out of Washington. Cousins went four games without throwing a touchdown before breaking the streak on Monday night football against the Raiders. He threw eight interceptions in those four games and another in Monday's narrow win.

Penix took the Huskies to the national title game last season and looked like a savvy veteran while doing it. Calls for the Falcons to put him in have been growing louder throughout the season.

Now that the change has been made, social media had a slew of different reactions.

Best memes and tweets after Michael Penix takes over for Kirk Cousins

The Falcons are throwing Penix into the fire against the New York Giants, which means he's getting thrown into more of a lukewarm bath for his first NFL start. That's not to say the games to come are meaningless. They're actually incredibly meaningful as Penix looks to lead his team into the playoffs.

Atlanta has games against the Giants, Commanders and Panthers to finish out the regular season. Currently sitting one game back of the Buccaneers in the NFC South, they need to outpace Tampa Bay to clinch the division or tally up enough wins to grab a wild card spot. The Commanders are also fighting for one of those, so that game between Penix and fellow rookie Jayden Daniels should be a big one.