Marquise Goodwin on he and his wife's tragic loss and his emotional touchdown hours later

Visceral emotion struck Marquise Goodwin in waves on Sunday.
The first blow came at 3:52 a.m., when the receiver’s son died. Morgan Goodwin, Marquise’s wife, told People Magazine that the baby — delivered stillborn after only 19 weeks of pregnancy — was named Marquise Jr..
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Excruciating hours followed. Goodwin didn’t sleep. Overcome with grief at Morgan’s side in the hospital, he said goodbye to Marquise Jr. throughout the early morning hours. The 49ers were set to kick off against the New York Giants at 1:25 p.m., but Goodwin couldn’t fathom playing.
“I mentally and physically was not prepared to play in the game at all,” Goodwin said on a Tuesday conference call with the Bay Area media.
As time ticked by and the sun rose in the morning, Marquise and Morgan intensely prayed. Goodwin said he regained a semblance of emotional strength, enough to leave the hospital and reach the 49ers’ game-night hotel in time to catch the team bus to Levi’s Stadium.
“Really, it was my wife’s decision,” Goodwin said. “She insisted that I go play in the game, because she understood my team needed me. … She encouraged me, she raised my spirits up and helped me get ready for the game. That’s what’s so cool about the situation: how supportive she is.”
Goodwin, who said he customarily dresses to “look presentable and nice for the cameras” upon arrival at the stadium, got off the bus in sweats instead.
“I hadn’t even gotten my stuff ready, or showered, or really gotten ready for the game,” Goodwin said.
From the hospital, Morgan posted on Instagram: “Lord Jesus, give him strength as he steps out on that field today. That he may do extraordinary things in today’s game.”
Goodwin only told a select group of 49ers about the morning’s tragedy. Eric Reid, one of Goodwin’s best friends on the team, recognized the receiver’s distress and asked him what was wrong. Goodwin then shared the news with his cousin Adrian Colbert, Reid, the rest of the 49ers’ wide receivers, and former teammate Brian Hoyer, who now plays for New England.
So quarterback C.J. Beathard didn’t even know about Goodwin’s plight when he heaved a deep pass to him in the second quarter.
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Goodwin, one of the fastest players in the NFL, raced under the bomb, escaped cornerback Janoris Jenkins’ dive, and scored an 83-yard touchdown.
Goodwin blew a kiss toward the sky as he crossed the 10-yard line. The receiver dropped to his knees and prayed again after he reached the end zone, sobbing as he clutched the ball and collapsed face-first into the grass.
Goodwin had managed to muster the strength to focus and play football up until that point — when the second wave of torment hit.
“All the pain I was feeling at the time came over me at once,” Goodwin said.
The 49ers’ receivers comforted him. So did Reid and Colbert, who sprinted from the sideline to greet Goodwin in the end zone. On Monday, coach Kyle Shanahan — who also knew about Goodwin’s situation — said he had preemptively OK’d a potential delay of game penalty in the event his receiver scored.
“I knew he was going to be in that end zone for a while,” Shanahan said. “So I planned for it.”
The touchdown was Goodwin’s only catch of the game, but he was able to regather himself to lay a punishing block downfield on Garrett Celek’s 47-yard score later in the quarter. The 49ers won 31-21 — their first victory of the season — and Goodwin left the stadium soon after the final gun to be with his family.
About two hours later, he publicly announced the death via Instagram.
“Honest to God truth, the only reason I made it through the game is because of my faith in God,” Goodwin said on Tuesday. “I wasn’t really in it. I had just lost my baby.”
Since the 49ers are on their bye week, Marquise and Morgan returned to Texas — their home state — this week to be near family and friends. According to the People article, the couple met in college and has long wanted children, but Morgan suffered a miscarriage in 2013 before Sunday’s tragedy.
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“Never stop believing,” Goodwin said, offering what positivity he could on the call. “The reward will last longer than the pain. Just because something you wanted your whole life didn’t happen — your whole life doesn’t always go quite as you planned it to. … But it will help you grow and become a better person.”
(Top photo: Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports)
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