Reggie Bush wanted to play against Redskins, will return against Bears

Reggie Bush said he will return next week against the Bears. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Reggie Bush told the Detroit Free-Press  that he begged and pleaded with Lions coach Jim Schwartz to let him play on Sunday against the Redskins. Schwartz and the Lions did not relent, believing Bush wasn't healthy enough to play, but the running back said he would play next week against the Bears.

The Lions placed Bush on the inactive list with a sprained left knee prior to Sunday's 27-20 victory at Washington. Bush injured the knee the previous week in the second quarter against the Cardinals.

From the Free Press:

“I could have played today,” Bush said. “I for sure could have played today, I just don’t know if I could have took a hit today on it. I practiced Friday, did a workout Saturday, ran. Everything was normal. I just wasn’t sure if I could take a hit yet. So that was the risk that we were dealing with. But this week I’ll be fine.”

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Schwartz gave Bush his final decision a couple hours before Sunday’s game. The coach was complimentary of Bush's desire to play, but the Lions remained cautious.

“We have to do what’s right,” Schwartz said. “Every player’s competitive and every player wants to go out there and play. But the injury that he was dealing with was a little different than maybe if he was a quarterback or an offensive lineman or something like that. He can’t control what’s going on when you’re a running back. You can’t control where they’re going to tackle you and things like that.

“He worked his butt off to get ready to play. I mean, he was in the training room 24 hours a day, he was sleeping with an apparatus on to try to get ready to play. But I just made the decision that in this case we needed to have healthy guys in there and he understood completely.”