Mike Celizic

NEW YORK - Six weeks ago, the New York Jets were on their way to the Super Bowl. Today, they’re on a return trip to chaos.

The superhero quarterback who energized New York may be finished with no proven performer to take over. The young head coach who was going to usher in a new era is fired. As penthouse-to-outhouse trips go, the Jets’ had been stunningly swift.

This is a team that was 8-3 after back-to-back road wins over the Titans and Patriots. It’s a team with seven players going to the Pro Bowl, a team that spent $140 million on free agents in the offseason. It’s a team that brought in the aging Brett Favre to haul Gang Green back to the playoffs and maybe to the Super Bowl.

But the Jets finished 1-4 as Favre looked more like a 39-year-old guy with a bum arm he’s become than the Hall of Famer he is destined to be. Now, they get to go through his annual dalliance with retirement.

A better move would be to fire the quarterback along with coach Eric Mangini. Favre isn’t the answer. That’s obvious. It will cost a lot to dump him, but better to move on now than to suffer through another season of too many interceptions in too many big situations.

I don’t know who the Jets replace him with. Kellen Clemens is the backup, but he’s not proved he can do the job. Matt Cassel might be available as a free agent, but it’s not clear if the Jets will be able to clear the cap room to pay for him.

The Favre move could end up costing them for several years to come, depending on how long it takes to find someone to replace him. But the Jets have to do something.

The Jets’ collapse is not as monumental as that engineered by the Dallas Cowboys, but it’s in the same stadium. The difference is the Jets at least are dumping the coach who couldn’t prepare or motivate his team to beat the 49ers, Broncos and Seahawks down the stretch.

Slide show   Week in Sports Pictures Flying on the hardwood, racing on the rink, getting physical on the gridiron, and much more. more photos

It’s hardly good news is that Jets’ general manager Mike Tannenbaum and owner Woody Johnson recognized the disaster for what it is. They are, after all, the ones who authored it, and there’s no guarantee they won’t replace their old mistakes with a basket of new ones.

At least they acted swiftly. On Monday, less than a day after the Jets lost for the fourth time in five weeks to finish out of the playoffs, Johnson announced that Mangini would not be back for a fourth season.

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The search for a new coach, he said, would be “aggressive,” as if that’s supposed to mean something. It suggests that Johnson will instruct Tannenbaum and his cohorts to waylay prospects in dark alleys and demand their credentials or their lives. Is there such a thing as a “passive” search for a coach? You know, one where team executives wait patiently in their offices scanning craigslist and waiting for resumes to come over the transom?

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