Getty Images After the Buccaneers lost to the Bears in Week Four, head coach Dirk Koetter said that the team would not be firing defensive coordinator Mike Smith. Koetter had a different answer about Smith’s future after they lost to the Falcons in Week Six. Per multiple reports, the Buccaneers fired Smith on Monday. The move comes with the Buccaneers allowing over 34 points a week and ranking next to last in the league in terms of yards allowed. They allowed more yards than any other team during the 2017 season as the defense has steadily regressed over Smith’s three years with the team. Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that linebackers coach Mark Duffner is expected to take on the coordinator job on an interim basis. UPDATE 2:02 p.m. ET: The Buccaneers have made Smith’s firing and Duffner’s title change official.<doc-sep>The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made a huge move Tuesday, firing defensive coordinator Mike Smith after his unit’s dismal start to the 2018 season. Smith’s defense was on pace to be arguably the worst in NFL history, with particular struggles against the pass leading to massive halftime deficits, the likes of which even the team’s high-powered offense haven’t been able to overcome. After the team’s third straight loss, which came after the bye week, coach Dirk Koetter made the difficult but necessary move to fire his friend and mentor, hoping to right his team’s defensive ship before he’s forced to walk the plank himself. Did the Bucs make the right move here? Should they have done it sooner?<doc-sep>The Bucs have fired defensive coordinator Mike Smith. Smith's defense was last in 2017 and are allowing 34.6 points per game this season, the most in the league and are on pace to allow the most points in NFL history. Two weeks ago, the Bucs were embarrassed at Chicago 48-10 and allowed six touchdown passes to Mitch Trubisky. On Sunday, Tampa Bay allowed the Falcons to score on four of their first five possessions and dug a 21-6 hole. Linebackers coach Mark Duffner will replace Smith. He served as the Bengals defensive coordinator/linebackers coach from 2001-02. "I have the utmost respect for Mike Smith as a man and as a football coach," coach Dirk Koetter said. "These decisions are always difficult, but our top priority here is to ensure that we do everything possible to help this team succeed. As I ahve said in the past, the issues as have had as a team are never one person's fault. During the good times, as well as the bad, it is a collective effort between the coaches and the players. We all understand that this is a results-based profession and our results to this point have not met our standards. I want to thank Mike for all the hard work and passion he has displayed here on a daily basis and I wish him well moving forward." After the loss to Chicago, Koetter seemed resigned to sticking with Smith, who hired him as offensive coordinator when he was head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. The two had spent one season together on Jack Del Rio's staff in Jacksonville. "You know, for those people who think snapping your fingers and changing your (defensive) coordinator a quarter of the way through the seasons, okay, well what would you do after that?'' Koetter said two weeks ago. "We fire Mike Smith. Okay, then what would the next move be? "Changing one person when we had things go wrong at all levels yesterday, as I said yesterday, we as coaches have got to coach better and that starts with me. But Mike Smith didn't miss any tackles, he didn't not rush the passer, he didn't blow any coverages, he didn't have any communication errors.'' But Koetter and the Bucs were hoping Smith could solve the problems during the bye week. "Well, because we were going into the bye week. We had quite a few things, injury-wise, not work out the way we originally planned," Koetter said. "I thought it was important both sides of the ball be able to go through the self-scouting process during the bye week and see if we could make some adjustments that would help us play better as a football team. I do think we had a good plan on defense for Atlanta. We did a lot of things we planned to do. We did some things differently. But it just didn't work out that way. So, this is a production business and we have to play better on defense. We have to play better as a football team. But we have to play better on defense. The Bucs have been doomed by slow starts on defense. Tampa Bay has allowed an average of 30.7 points in the first half of their last three games, all defeats. Bucs linebacker Lavonte David was asked if he felt the defensive players let Smith down. "I mean, I'm not sure. But me personally, I feel kind of like that because some of the guys out there were really playing for him so I feel like maybe I wasn't out there giving my best to help him keep his job," David siad. "But like I said, it's a tough business and hard to see a guy like that go because I know what type of person he is outside of football. Coach is really a standup guy. He never threw anybody under the bus. He was always a positive guy it's hard to see someone like that go, especially a person like that who has great character." Duffner, 65, will continue to coach linebackers in addition to becoming defensive coordinator. "You can expect a lot of energy, a lot of excitement," David said of Duffner. "That's what we get from him as LBs. I expect a lot of guys will play their best for coach Duff and everybody offensively and defensively loves coach Duff's energy and positivity so you can expect a lot of fun football." Koetter said firing Mike Smith was the 'second-most," difficult thing he's faced as a head coach. He had a player die while he was head coach at Boise State. "You know Mike and I worked together in Jacksonville as coordinators and I worked for Mike in Atlanta," Koetter said. "I didn't ever see this day coming but it's here. So we have to make decisions that give us the best chance for our football team moving forward. That's all you can do.<doc-sep>The Mike Smith era is over in Tampa Bay. According to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, players were informed that the team would be making a change at the defensive coordinator position today. Bucs have fired defensive coordinator Mike Smith. — Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) October 15, 2018 Linebackers coach Mark Duffner is expected to take over as the interim. With #Bucs defensive coordinator Mike Smith being fired, expect LBs coach Mark Duffner to serve as the interim. — Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 15, 2018 Smith’s defense finished dead last in the NFL last season and has shown no improvement this year. The unit has been historically bad in 2018 and is on record pace to shatter all kinds of defensive records - and not the good ones. It will be interesting to see how Duffner performs as the season wears on. This type of change is uncommon during the season in the NFL, but it could benefit the Bucs and save their rapidly-declining season. The Bucs released the following statement, courtesy of the Communications Department. “I have the utmost respect for Mike Smith as a man and as a football coach,” said Buccaneers Head Coach Dirk Koetter. “These decisions are always difficult, but our top priority here is to ensure that we do everything possible to help this team succeed. As I have said in the past, the issues we have had as a team are never one person’s fault. During good times, as well as the bad, it is a collective effort between the coaches and the players. We all understand that this is a result-based profession and our results to this point have not met our standards. I want to thank Mike for all the hard work and passion he has displayed here on a daily basis and I wish him well moving forward.” Duffner began his career with Tampa Bay in 2016 and has been a linebacker coach since 1997 in the NFL. In each of his first two years with the team, a Buccaneers linebacker earned a Pro Bowl selection (Lavonte David-2016, Kwon Alexander-2017). He served as the Cincinnati Bengals’ defensive coordinator from 2001-2002.<doc-sep>
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers became the first NFL team to fire a coordinator in 2018. Defensive coordinator Mike Smith was fired Monday, the Buccaneers announced, after the team lost its third straight game in a 34-29 defeat against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. The Buccaneers rank last in the NFL in scoring defense with 34.6 points allowed per game and is ahead of only the Kansas City Chiefs in yards allowed per game (439.8). Tampa Bay has given up at least 400 yards in all of its game and at least 30 points in four of five contests, including its last three. "I have the utmost respect for Mike Smith as a man and as a football coach," Buccaneers coach Dirk Koetter said in a release. "These decisions are always difficult, but our top priority here is to ensure that we do everything possible to help this team succeed. As I have said in the past, the issues we have had as a team are never one person’s fault. .... We all understand that this is a result-based profession and our results to this point have not met our standards. "I want to thank Mike for all the hard work and passion he has displayed here on a daily basis and I wish him well moving forward." Smith had been the Buccaneers' defensive coordinator since 2016, when Koetter was promoted to head coach. Linebackers coach Mark Duffner will take over for Smith in leading the defense. Follow Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz on Twitter @MikeMSchwartz.