Note: This week I’ll be foregoing the usual Bucs game preview, because it’s the Bucs vs. the Seahawks, and would you really want to read that anyway? Didn’t think so.

Raheem Morris is giving me a serious case of déjà vu. But the déjà vu has little to do with the Bucs’ descent into pre-Dungy putridity and much more to do with the TV show Lost. Let me explain… 

I’ve watched Lost since the beginning. The first season of the show was unlike anything I’d ever seen. Not only was it well-written and well-acted, but the idea of a bunch of plane-wrecked castaways stuck on a magical island was so eerily compelling that I couldn’t wait to tune in each week. Every episode seemed to bring the viewer a step closer to understanding the mysteries of the island.

Those mysteries were really fun to piece together through discussions with coworkers and searching for screen shots that held clues from the previous week’s episode. At least they were at the beginning, when it seemed like all of the questions might have answers. But the more questions the show asked , the more it felt like the writers were just making up new mysteries as they went along–like they never had the answers in the first place.

The first season seemed to be a story of ghosts and redemption, but then it was about quantum physics and a magical button that kept the radioactive atmosphere in line, but then it was about time travel. And that’s not to mention the fact that Lost added “pivotal” characters throughout the series (Nikki and Paolo, ahem) that they killed off within a season when the audience didn’t like the new additions or when the actor was arrested for a DUI. And, sure, I suppose there are sometimes unavoidable extenuating factors, but if there was a master plan, these wouldn’t be an issue. Which begs the question: Is there a master plan?

Which brings me back to Raheem and the déjà vu. I was all in favor of Raheem this year. Yes, I knew that his lack of experience would certainly be an issue he had to overcome.  I also understood that he was going to have to surround himself with amazing coordinators and players for the Bucs to even have a shot at being successful, and even then I was pretty sure it was going to take a couple of years to be a truly competitive team. But I thought, hey, Coach Rah is fun to watch! He is charismatic and has a sense of humor, and I really think this could work out. As long as he has a plan.

But then things started heading south. First came the Great Purge of ’09, in which all of the Bucs senior members were shown the door, including the great Derrick Brooks. Red flags abounded, but I thought, Ok! The plan! A youth movement is the plan! Then came the hiring and subsequent firing of Offensive Coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski. Apparently he did not know how to call plays. Which begged the question, why did they hire him in the first place? But wait, it got worse, because the new Defensive Coordinator, Jim Bates, was fired mid-season as well. (Jeff and Jim, I’d like you to meet Nikki and Paolo.)

As in Lost, the longer the Bucs season lasts, the more muddled it gets. At first we were going to be a power running team, with a strong offensive line and the addition of Giants’ running back Derrick Ward. Well, that didn’t work. And the new man-defense that Jim Bates tried to implement put the team in so many big holes early, that the Bucs became a pass-first team. Speaking of which, Byron Leftwich was supposed to get us through the year so that rookie Josh Freeman could sit on the bench. But Leftwich left early, followed by Josh Johnson, and then, halfway through the season… rookie Josh Freeman. Oh yeah, and the Bucs dropped the man-defense, too. If there was a master plan in the beginning of the season, you’d never know it looking at the current team.

But the great thing about both Lost and the Bucs is this: They can both be redeemed with a good ending. If Raheem can rally his team to win one or two of the three remaining games, he can likely save himself a job. After all, he and his team seem to have done a good job drafting Josh Freeman and a couple of other promising young players. And if Lost can come up with a whiz bang series ender this spring, all doubts and worries and quantum physics-induced headaches will be forgotten. 

But if not, of course, I do believe that all is completely Lost.