Antoine Bethea Very Strong in Monday Night Football Comeback 

San Francisco 49ers Safety Antoine Bethea looked very strong in Monday night’s home-season opener versus the LA Rams. In the historical 21 years-in-the-making return of the Los Angeles Rams, the San Francisco 49ers dominated shutting out the Rams 28-0. Bethea, who is entering his 10th season in the NFL. looked like he hadn’t missed a beat. The 3-time Pro-Bowler Bethea, who up to week 6 of the 2015 season, had played 118 consecutive games. This was the record for longest consecutive starts for any Defensive Back in the NFL and the 7th longest active streak in the NFL at the time. In the win over the Baltimore Ravens, Bethea suffered a torn pec, the first injury of his career and was placed on IR for the remainder of the season.

The team struggled without their defensive leader, who last night played in his first regular season game for almost a year. Bethea looked strong and powerful, finishing the night with 4 tackles. A three time Pro-Bowler, through Bethea’s entire career he has has proven to be a respected leader and formidable opponent. Which was exactly the case vs. the Los Angeles Rams Monday Night.

“In my time being in the league, you always want to keep a team one dimensional. When they have you on the ropes and they’re running and passing, it’s tough as a defensive coordinator to call plays. My goal coming into the game was to stop Gurley and we did a great job of that. When they went back to pass we were able to get pressure on them.”- said Bethea in the post-game press conference after the victory on Monday night.

Bethea and the 49ers will look to continue their streak in this Sunday’s  game against the Carolina Panthers.

“It sets the tone for us, but at the end of the day we’re going on the road next week to a good team. It definitely sets the tone. We definitely have some things we can correct. Last year we came out, had a great showing the first game and laid an egg the second game. I think that mindset is much different.”