Marquise Goodwin: ‘Situations like that, you only make it through that with your faith in God.’

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Marquise Goodwin and his wife Morgan went through an unspeakable tragedy this weekend, when their son was born stillborn at 19 weeks. This happened hours before Goodwin was set to play in Sunday’s game, but he elected to go forward and play in the game.

On Tuesday, he spoke to Bay Area media about the events of the weekend, and what he has taken away from it. According to his wife, it was a difficult pregnancy, and Marquise said his mind was on the situation all week. When the time came to decide if he was going to play, Goodwin said it was his wife’s decision that he play the game.

“Really it was my wife’s decision. I asked her if she would like me to stay with her, and she insisted I go play the game, because she felt my team needed me.”

Goodwin credited his wife and God for being able to make it through Sunday’s game. He said he was not at all mentally or physically prepared for the game, but they prayed about it.

“Honest to god truth, the only reason I made it through the game was because of God, my faith in God. I was mentally and physically not prepared to play in the game. I really didn’t practice the whole week, I was really just going through a lot. Just trying to get my body rested from the week before, and the week before that. Coming into the game, I wasn’t really in it because I had just lost my baby. By my wife, we prayed about it, and I guess she felt that God moved her to let me go play. And she encouraged me, she raised my spirits up and helped me get ready for the game. And that’s what’s co cool about the situation, because of how much my wife encouraged me. I think it speaks more to her character than me.”

After Sunday’s game, quarterback C.J. Beathard said he had not been aware of Goodwin’s loss throughout the game. Goodwin reported to the team hotel before the bus ride to Levi’s Stadium, and quickly went to get breakfast. He normally showers and dresses up nice, but he just went to breakfast in sweats. Eric Reid noticed something was up and offered some support that morning.

“I’m pretty sure Eric Reid, being a close teammate and a good friend of mine on the team, being around him, I think he knows when something is wrong, or something is out of order. He was one of the few people I told on the team. The receiver corps, obviously my cousin Adrian, and Adrian, and Brian Hoyer at the time, were the ones I initially told on the team. He was one of the first people that knew. Eric, he supported me.”

Goodwin has since returned to Texas for the bye week to be with family. He is thankful for all the support he has received, from friends and strangers alike.

“Tremendous amount of support. Didn’t realize that sharing our journey with this baby would gain so many people. We do have a lot of people that are I guess following us through our journeys, so we can maybe help people who are going through similar things that we have gone through, or maybe help people who are going through our situation.”

He closed with advice he could give to anybody who has to go through this kind of tragedy. It’s certainly something nobody can prepare for, but he emphasized the need to keep believing.

“Never stop believing. The reward will last longer than the pain. Sometimes life isn’t supposed to work how you want but you will be better from it. God has a plan for everything."