Browns Fire Carson After Worst Loss : Football: Jim Shofner, Cleveland’s first-year offensive coordinator, will replace him as coach.

Bud Carson became the first coaching casualty of the 1990 NFL season today when he was fired by the Cleveland Browns a day after the worst home loss in their history.

Jim Shofner, Cleveland’s first-year offensive coordinator, will replace Carson. Shofner has 20 years experience as an NFL assistant, including three as the Browns’ quarterback coach from 1978-80.

The Browns are the only AFC team that has been to the playoffs each of the past five seasons. But their 2-7 record marks their worst start since 1984 when they went 1-8. Sam Rutigliano was fired as head coach when they were 1-7 that year.

“I was praying Bud would turn it around,” Browns owner Art Modell said.

Carson had sounded close to resigning after Sunday’s 42-0 loss to the Buffalo Bills. He has been dogged by speculation about his job since the season’s fourth week.

After Sunday’s loss, Carson said: “It is an embarrassing loss for me and it is an embarrassing loss for this football team. I have to go home and think about it myself. The last thing I want to do is be a part of a football team that cannot win.

“It’s not fun for them. It’s not a good situation for anyone.”

Including playoff games, Carson was 12-14-1 with the Browns.

Modell noted that most of the sellout crowd of 78,331 had left by the fourth quarter Sunday. Carson had gambled by benching Bernie Kosar and giving Mike Pagel the start at quarterback--Pagel’s fifth start in five years with Cleveland.

“I never remember the fans giving up on us so early,” Modell said after the game. “The only people remaining were the Buffalo fans. It never has been like that before.”

The 59-year-old Carson replaced Marty Schottenheimer as the Browns’ coach on Jan. 27, 1989, after Schottenheimer left in a dispute with Modell over coaching styles. Schottenheimer, now at Kansas City, was 46-31 in four-plus seasons at Cleveland.

The Browns were 9-6-1 and AFC Central champions under Carson last year, making it to the AFC title game before losing to Denver. But 1990 has been a nightmare, as injuries, retirements and holdouts wiped out Cleveland’s offensive line and fouled up the defense.

Five defensive starters were contract holdouts during the preseason. Two starting offensive linemen retired, and two others were out with knee injuries.

Before coming to Cleveland, Carson was a defensive coordinator for five NFL teams, including the Rams and most recently the New York Jets.

He built Pittsburgh’s “Steel Curtain” defense while serving as defensive coordinator of the Steelers from 1972 to ‘77, when Pittsburgh went to the playoffs six straight seasons and won Super Bowls in 1974 and 1975.

The 54-year-old Shofner rejoined the Browns this season after serving as an assistant with the Phoenix Cardinals from 1986 to ’89. He has also worked for Dallas, Houston and San Francisco.

He was a defensive back for the Browns from 1958 to ’63 and was a head coach at Texas Christian.