Reggie Bush Won't Guarantee Super Bowl But Says Team Has No More Excuses
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - Though the Detroit Lions hired a new head coach, new offensive coordinator and new defensive coordinator for the 2014 season, much of the roster has not changed. Accordingly, many have predicted the Lions will be as mediocre this season as they were last season, when the team finished 7-9.
Running back Reggie Bush, however, said head coach Jim Caldwell will make Detroit a different team in 2014.
"I just think the world of him," Bush told Stoney, Bill and Sara on 97.1 The Ticket. "I think it's everything that this organization has needed for a long time. For example, in team meetings he's throwing out various quotes, it could be a quote from a book, Bible quotes, it could be quotes from movies, but it's all to get across the same point. It could be playing a champion, approaching the game as a champion, whatever different points he wants to get across."
As far as how much different the Lions can be in 2014, Bush refrained from offering any dramatic predictions, but he sounded optimistic.
"I always try to stay away from Super Bowl predictions because it's so far away from now, we have so much we've got to go through and accomplish before we get there," Bush said. "We do have great personnel here, yes. We do have a great, great team, veteran leadership, good veteran leadership. We do have a really good coach who's been to three Super Bowls and who's won two of them. I don't want to go out on a limb and say we're going to win a Super Bowl, but there are no more excuses for this team.
"The time is now for us to go out and win and to be successful," Bush continued. "Like I said, I try to stay away from the Super Bowl predictions. This team, we've got a long ways to go ... Let's not get caught looking ahead."
Bush did not mind, however, taking a quick look back. He talked with Stoney, Bill and Sara about his busy offseason, which included his wedding, a honeymoon in Spain and a trip to Australia.
Bush said he and his bride spent time in Barcelona, a city Bush has visited many times, as well as Ibiza, where one outing in particular made an impression on him.
"We went to a restaurant there called Lio, I don't know if you've ever heard of it, it's really cool," Bush said. "They just do a bunch of shows while you're eating, basically, so the whole time you're sitting there eating dinner and they're just performing the whole time, different songs, people singing.
"They had a man, a guy there, that was singing opera as the woman, and he was flawless," Bush continued, laughing. "He was amazing! It was so good that I didn't think it was real. So for every intermission or after every show he would come in and do a little opera singing."
In Australia, Bush watched a rugby game. He conceded that sport might even be more violent than the NFL.
"Rugby is a bloodbath," Bush said. "Literally, it's a bloodbath. It's just freight trains, people with no pads, just head-butting, running into each other. I don't see how they do it, man. That sport's crazy."
The Lions expect to experience some (ideally less violent) craziness Monday, when the team opens its season at Ford Field against the New York Giants. Bush is entering his ninth NFL season, but he said playing on Monday Night Football is still a big deal.
"It always is," Bush said. "It doesn't matter who's playing. I've been on both sides of the spectrum where we're playing Monday night and we weren't that good, and then we're playing Monday Night and we are good. Playing the first game of the season to open, it's exciting. Fans should be excited.
"Even when we're not playing," Bush added, "I'm always watching on Monday nights."