Let me see if I can get this straight.

Last week, it was the players’ fault. This week, it is the fault of the defensive coordinator. What’s that make next week? The general manager’s fault?

Raheem Morris played the blame game again Monday night, forcing defensive coordinator Jim Bates to walk the plank in Tampa Bay, the second coordinator he’s ousted since August. A day after the Buccaneers were blown out 38-7 by the New Orleans Saints, Morris rid himself of one of the problems in the team’s 1-9 start. The belief is that the Bucs will return to their Tampa Two roots that Bates trashed when he arrived—under the guidance of Morris.

Now, the head coach who had never been a coordinator before will be the head coach and the coordinator. Got it? It’s a gutsy move by Morris but eventually these are the kinds of moves that gets the coach canned. Morris fired offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski in August and promoted quarterbacks coach Greg Olson. It’s unclear if the original hires were made solely by Morris or if general manager Mark Dominik was also heavily involved.

The Bucs are ranked 27th in defense and are dead last vs. the run. Their personnel, built for more than a decade to play the Tampa Two, didn’t fit what Bates wanted to do. Maybe Morris will be able to make a somewhat quick transition, but he’s admitting error here a week after he fired on his players.

“We'll get there,” Morris said last week. “We'll find those guys, and we'll go out there and get them. Right now, we've got to go out there and play with the guys that we have.

“We're just not made right now to knock people back. That's how we're cut. We don't have big, intimidating linebackers or big, intimidating linemen.”

Soon, Morris could run out of fingers to point. He might have to point the thumb soon.

Follow me at Twitter: BradBiggs