EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Chad Pennington led a second-half comeback and rookie Jonathan Vilma sealed it, helping the Jets beat San Francisco 22-14 yesterday.

Though they floundered for the first half and trailed 14-3 at half time, the Jets are 5-0 for the first time in their 45-year history thanks to a strong effort after the break.

Pennington made an animated halftime speech in the locker room that seemed to motivate his teammates.

“That’s the maddest I’ve ever seen Chad,” said running back Curtis Martin, who had 111 yards on 25 carries and two touchdowns, while passing Marcus Allen for eighth place on the NFL career rushing list.

With Pennington sparking the offense, defensive coordinator Donnie Henderson lit a fire under his unit. After San Francisco (1-5) scored its second touchdown to go up 14-0 midway through the second quarter, he left his usual spot up in the coaches box and went down to the sideline. That was enough to motivate the players, who got an earful from their coach.

The Jets shut out the 49ers thereafter, limiting Tim Rattay to 93 yards passing in the second half. Rattay finished 18-of-28 for 286 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

Meanwhile, Pennington and Martin keyed the Jets. Now they can savor making history before turning to a division showdown at New England next week.

Pennington finished 20-of-30 for 222 yards, including 11-of-14 for 117 yards in the second half.

Martin now has 12,282 yards rushing over his ten-year career.

The Jets began their comeback on the first drive of the third quarter. LaMont Jordan capped a 91-yard drive with a 17-yard scoring run. He failed on the 2-point conversion and the Jets trailed 14-9.

After forcing San Francisco to punt, Pennington went to work again, leading the Jets 70 yards. Martin scored from the 1 to give the Jets the lead. Pennington threw incomplete on the 2-point conversion.

“When we went down and scored, we got our adrenaline back,” coach Herman Edwards said. “From there, we started playing like we did before.”

But San Francisco had two good chances to take the lead, trailing 15-14.

After Toby Gowin’s punt went 31 yards, the 49ers got the ball at their 38 with 7:38 to go. They drove to the Jets 27 before Arnaz Battle fumbled the toss from Rattay on an end-around and lost 8 yards, knocking them out of field goal range. Then, with the ball on his 35 with 1:44 remaining, Vilma picked off Rattay’s poorly thrown pass, ending any hope of a rally. Martin added a 9-yard touchdown for the final margin.

“It came so quickly I was like, ‘Thank you!’ “Vilma said.

The Jets played without WR Santana Moss (hamstring), and guards Pete Kendall (toe) and Brandon Moore (hamstring).