San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo fields questions after an NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/D. Ross Cameron)

By Jeremy Harness

The feeling that Jimmy Garoppolo will be the one to help the San Francisco 49ers return to glory is in full swing now. The new guy under center brought the 49ers back from behind on two different occasions in the fourth quarter against a playoff contender in the Tennessee Titans, before Robbie Gould, who has been as clutch of a kicker as there is in the NFL, came through with a walk-off 45-yard field goal to give his team a 25-23 win at Levi’s Stadium Sunday afternoon.

This marks the 49ers’ third win in a row, which so happens to be the number of games that Garoppolo has started for his new team, and Sunday marked his first home start in a 49ers uniform.

He finished with 381 passing yards, while completing 31 of his 43 throws, one of those finding the end zone for a touchdown. He continually made the right decision and found wide open receivers, repeatedly exposing the Titans’ secondary and put his receivers in position to make big plays, particularly down the stretch.

After Ryan Succop nailed a 50-yard field goal to give Tennessee a 23-22 lead with 1:07 remaining, Garoppolo got right to work. He completed passes in the middle of the field, but he was able to get his team down the field efficiently enough that they did not have to burn their last timeout prematurely.

In fact, they did not even have to spike the ball in order to stop the clock. Because of that, they were able to preserve that last timeout until three seconds remaining, with the 49ers sitting at the Titans’ 27-yard line, setting up Gould’s game-winner.

The 49ers will have a pair of very tough games to close out the 2017 season, as they will face the AFC South-leading Jacksonville Jaguars before taking on the NFC West-leading Los Angeles Rams, who drubbed the Seattle Seahawks, who had had a stranglehold on the division since 2013, Sunday afternoon.

The Titans, however, remain in the AFC’s wild-card spot, and that they still have a chance to win the AFC South if they win out.

Marcus Mariota had a bounce-back performance on Sunday, completing 23 of his 33 passes for 241 yards along with a pair of scores. He did not throw an interception.