Tampa Bay Fires Perkins on Winning Note : Pro football: Coach is dismissed after team beats Atlanta to break a six-game losing streak.

Ray Perkins, hired to turn the Tampa Bay Buccaneers into the team of the 1990s, was fired Monday in his fourth season as coach of the losingest NFL franchise of the ‘80s.

Oddly, Perkins’ dismissal came the day after the 5-8 Buccaneers ended the six-game losing streak that proved his undoing.

“The change is not because of Ray Perkins. It’s strictly that we haven’t had a winning season in four years. I’m not saying who’s at fault,” owner Hugh Culverhouse said.

Last month, Culverhouse said he would not let Perkins quit even if the team lost the rest of its games.

But Monday, Culverhouse, who lured Perkins from Alabama with a five-year contract worth $800,000 a year, said his 19-41 record since 1987 simply was not good enough. Assistant head coach Richard Williamson was named interim coach.

“Unfortunately, the pressure continued to build,” Culverhouse said. “The more I thought about it, even though we had won, I knew there was going to be this constant distraction to the team. Is Ray Perkins going to be back next year?

“I felt like with two weeks off we’d have a chance to make this change and have something strong come out of it,” he said, referring to this week’s open date. “There’s no guarantee that it will, but in my opinion with the two weeks off we had a chance.”

Perkins, who was unavailable for comment, met with Culverhouse then broke the news to the players.

“He took it pretty hard because he’s always been a winning coach,” Culverhouse said. “This is the first time something like this has ever happened to him.”

The Buccaneers sputtered offensively during the losing streak, and Perkins’ relationship with Vinny Testaverde soured when the quarterback was benched for two games in favor of Chris Chandler.

Testaverde regained the No. 1 job two weeks ago and passed for a season-high 351 yards against Atlanta on Sunday, when the losing streak ended with a 23-17 victory. He said he was surprised by Culverhouse’s decision.

“It’s very disappointing,” Testaverde said. “You go out and win a game and you come back and there’s bad news.”

Perkins also held the title of vice president-football operations and was responsible for all personnel moves. He also served as his own offensive coordinator.

The Buccaneers haven’t had a winning season since going 5-4 and qualifying for the playoffs during the strike-shortened 1982 season.