Tannehill’s greatest liability at the moment isn’t his inexperience. It is that he needs to be better protected by his offensive line and better helped by his receivers than he has been in the first two fake games. The rookie also will need Miami’s defense to be much better than it has shown to alleviate as much pressure from Tannehill as possible.

By being named the starter now, he’ll get the first-team reps from here on out, an invaluable preparation. (Better he might have had that from Day 1).

“The more you can be on the same page [with receivers], it’s obviously a good thing,” Tannehill said Monday, prior to his coach naming him the starter.

Or, As Philbin later put it, “To give a quarterback the confidence to play, you gotta start getting him ready.”

Philbin called his choice a “close competition,” perhaps to soften the blow for Moore, or perhaps because going with a more proven veteran might have been a safer call. Sorry, though, a club that last won a Super Bowl in 1973 and last played in one in 1984 — a club more than a decade distanced from its most recent playoff victory — should be way beyond playing it safe.

Philbin described his choice of Tannehill rather clinically, saying, “We think he is very poised, a mature individual. It isn’t too big for him. We think he has a chance to be a very accurate passer. He has very good mobility.”

And that’s all fine. It is.

But I would describe Monday’s decision in broader, more emotional terms.

This franchise needs a hero, a superstar, a savior.

I’m not positive Ryan Tannehill will be all of those things.

I’m just positive it is time to find out.