Having gone winless through their first nine games of the season, Robin Dutt's sacking - and Viktor Skripnik's promotion to head coach - has resulted in three straight successes for Bremen in all competitions.
A first triumph of the season at their Weserstadion home arrived on Saturday as they overcame Stuttgart 2-0.
Sebastian Prodl put the Swabians to the sword on the half-hour as he nodded in Zlatko Junuzovic's corner, despite Antonio Rudiger's best efforts on the line.
Junuzovic was also provider for the second, his short delivery smashed home by a turning Fin Bartels via the post.
Victory takes Bremen to the relatively heady heights of 15th, but Jurgen Klopp's Dortmund are now bottom ahead of a tough test at home to third-placed Borussia Monchengladbach on Sunday.
At the opposite end of the standings, a Thomas Muller hat-trick inspired a dominant Bayern Munich to a comfortable 4-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt.
A strong start from the visitors was rewarded midway through the first half when some good work from Franck Ribery allowed Muller to tap home.
Despite a couple of scares before the break, the visitors rarely looked troubled, and Muller was on hand to double the lead just after the hour, slotting home after again linking up with the imperious Ribery.
And the 25-year old completed his hat-trick three minutes later after being played in by Mario Gotze, with Xherdan Shaqiri's strike compounding the misery of Thomas Schaaf's side, who have now lost five on the bounce.
The win extends the champions' unbeaten run to 17 games in all competitions, leaving them seven points clear at the top of the table.
Hoffenheim missed a chance to go fourth as they lost an action-packed tie at home to Cologne 4-3.
Adam Szalai gave the hosts a dream start with less than two minutes on the clock, but the response was almost as quick, Pawel Olkowski squaring the score.
Cologne came into the game having won two of their previous three and looked in control as Matthias Lehmann's free-kick and Anthony Ujah gave them a two-goal buffer.
However, Roberto Firmino struck twice before the break to take his tally to four goals from as many games since receiving a maiden call-up to Brazil's senior squad.
A frantic first half was never likely to be replicated after the break, and just one further goal ended up settling the result - Olkowski netting seven minutes from time to take Cologne into the safe haven of mid-table.
Bayer Leverkusen also failed to move into a Champions League spot as they were held 0-0 by Mainz at the BayArena.
Schalke's inconsistent campaign continues after a 2-0 defeat at Freiburg, while Augsburg went seventh with a 3-0 win over Paderborn.
