SANTA CLARA — As Jimmy Garoppolo rushed off the 49ers sideline to celebrate Sunday’s third straight win, he called out a couple audibles:

“Hey, that’s how we go over the two-minute drill, huh?!” a mic’d-up Garoppolo shouted to quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello.

“Whoooooo! Unbelievable, huh?!” Garoppolo continued to center Daniel Kilgore. “Make it a little exciting at the end there, huh?!”

Garoppolo is three starts into his 49ers tenure, with three exciting comeback wins to show for it. Exciting, huh?!

Quarterbacks are judged ultimately on wins, and preferably Lombardi Trophies. Statistician freaks will examine touchdowns, yards and completion percentages. But the ability to lead comebacks and swiftly execute two-minute drill are truly cherished traits.

Now, can Garoppolo and the 49ers (4-10) keep it close against the AFC South-leading Jacksonville Jaguars (10-4) to make the final two minutes meaningful? The Jaguars’ average margin of victory is 20.2 points, and they’ve won only twice by less than 12 points.

“Fortunately we haven’t been pushed to it often,” Jaguars coach Doug Marrone said on a conference call. “We put our defense on the field (Dec. 10) against Seattle in a two-minute situation to win the game.” The result: The Seahawks went 3-and-out, and the Jaguars won 30-24.

Last Sunday, the Titans left 1 minute, 7 seconds for Garoppolo to lead the 49ers down field in his first home start, culminating in Robbie Gould’s game-winning field goal as time expired.

Coincidentally, only 1 minute, 7 seconds remained in the 49ers’ home loss to the Seattle Seahawks when Garoppolo made his 49ers debut in relief of an injured C.J. Beathard, culminating in a touchdown pass as time expired.

“Two-minute drill comes down to execution at the end of the day,” Garoppolo said after Sunday’s heroics. “All the excitement is going on, and you just have to stay cool and go execute.”

In their daily walk-through practices, the 49ers typically put about a minute on their training fields’ scoreboard.

“It’s stuff you work on a lot,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “You just always do a walk-through type tempo. It was fun (Sunday) to pull one off live.”

Wednesdays, they work as if halftime is approaching. Thursday, end-of-game scenarios. Fridays, more of the same.

“I honestly think we work on it everyday against our defense,” Kilgore said. “It’s outstanding how much our two-minute has taken off. It’s crazy.”

In winning 4 of 5, the 49ers have scored in the final two minutes of every half, except when they victoriously knelt to kill the final seconds of wins against the Giants and Texans. Otherwise, they’ve produced six field goals from Gould and two touchdown catches (by Garrett Celek and Louis Murphy).

Overall, Shanahan’s play calling has helped the 49ers score on 12-of-26 possessions this season inside the final two minutes of a half.

Last year, Chip Kelly’s 49ers scored on 7-of-31 possessions inside the final two minutes. That included five touchdowns, two field goals and 13 punts. This season’s 49ers have punted only four times among those 26 series.

Marrone said Garoppolo is “hitting his groove” with “unbelievable accuracy” and an emerging kinship with Shanahan that makes for a “very dangerous combination.”

Scangarello, Garoppolo’s primary tutor since his Oct. 31 arrival, took great pride in how well Garoppolo has executed the two-minute drill, attributing that to hard work and a knack for performing in the clutch.

“Obviously Jimmy just has a great understanding for how to manage a football game,” Scangarello said. “That’s a trait that’s important to any quarterback that’s going to be successful in this league. That’s natural for him.

“When you play a pretty level-headed, cool mentality, and when you’re like that as a personality, it’s easier to not get nervous, and to be calm and composed and let other people feed off that energy and have success.”

As for the Jaguars’ stingy defense, it’s allowed points on only 4-of-24 two-minute drills, and only one touchdown. Conversely, “Sacksonville” has created four turnovers, starting with a strip-sack fumble that Dante Fowler returned for a touchdown in the season opener for a 19-0 halftime lead at Houston.

So began the Jaguars’ march to what will be their first division title since 1999 if they win Sunday at Levi’s Stadium.

To prevent that, the 49ers would prefer touchdowns instead of so many field goals in their red-zone production. But, hey, the two-minute drill reflects progress, and it paid off Sunday with enough points as necessary.

“Man, it was a tough situation we got put in: a minute left to run down,” Celek said. “We did it. Guys were just showing up, making big plays.”

Related Articles Jimmy Garoppolo’s injury may reveal a flaw with NFL officials’ face masks

NFL: 49ers can’t escape from New York’s MetLife Stadium turf

How 49ers’ Nick Mullens set himself up for unfair expectations

The Deets: Kyle Shanahan will have to prove he’s a genius against the Giants

49ers’ Jerick McKinnon showing how two years on mend propelled his game Garoppolo didn’t learn the 49ers’ preferences in the two-minute drill until the week leading into his first start, at Chicago, which the 49ers won on Gould’s field goal with four seconds remaining.

After that win, left tackle Joe Staley crooned in the locker room: ““We’ve got a quarterback, huh?!”