PRO FOOTBALL REPORT : WEEKDAY UPDATE : AROUND THE NFL : Paul Brown in Hospital With Blood Clot

Cincinnati Bengal founder Paul Brown is recoverying from a blood clot in his leg that forced him to be hospitalized during the weekend, according to the team’s doctor.

Dr. Robert Heidt Jr. said the problem wasn’t serious, and Brown should be able to go home today.

Brown, 82, was in Christ Hospital when his team lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 20-17, in overtime Sunday. It was the first time Brown had missed one of the Bengals’ home games.

Winless in his first four games as the Cleveland Browns’ head coach, Jim Shofner has given up any hope of returning to the same job next season.

“Obviously, I wasn’t the answer,” Shofner said Monday. “Certainly I inherited a lot of circumstances. You can say there are all these reasons why, and maybe they’re legitimate. But it still adds up to the same thing--I didn’t get it done.”

The Browns lost to Houston, 58-14, Sunday, giving up more points than they had ever given up in a regular-season game.

Chicago Bear Coach Mike Ditka got into a heated exchange with a reporter Monday, broke off his weekly news conference and stomped out of the room.

The outburst was triggered when Red Mottlow of Chicago’s WFYR radio asked Ditka about the Bears’ offensive showing in Sunday’s 10-9 loss to the Washington Redskins.

“What’s wrong?” Mottlow asked.

Ditka replied: “They got a pretty good defense, Red, and they stopped us! Why don’t you talk about how good they played instead of our problems.”

Ditka then swore and told Mottlow, “You’re a joke.”

After somebody else asked a question, Ditka said, “You want to get answers to what you need, get them from Red Mottlow. He’s the expert on everything.”