INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts kept saying a perfect season didn’t matter.

They meant it.

Coach Jim Caldwell pulled Peyton Manning and a handful of other starters for the previously unbeaten Colts in the third quarter, and the Jets took advantage by rallying for a 29-15 victory that ended the NFL’s longest regular-season winning streak at 23 games.

With Manning on the sideline, helmet on and standing next to his offensive coordinator, the Colts (14-1) lost for the first time since Oct. 27, 2008, at Tennessee, ending a franchise-record 13-game winning streak at home.

“Until any player in here is the head coach, you follow orders and you follow them with all of your heart,” Manning said. “That’s what we’ve done as players. We follow orders. Our orders were not to give up a turnover, not to give up a kick return for a touchdown. There’s not many games, under any circumstances that you win, when you have turnovers and give up a kick return for a touchdown.”

The Jets (8-7) took control of their playoff destiny with the victory, and would make the postseason for the first time since 2006 with a win next week at home against AFC North champion Cincinnati.

Caldwell made the move to sit Manning & Co. after taking a 15-10 lead with 5:36 left in the third quarter, focused on a Super Bowl run rather than regular-season perfection. But to the fans at Lucas Oil Stadium, who wanted to send players to Buffalo with a chance to match New England’s perfect 2007 regular season, it clearly mattered.

“Indianapolis earned the right to do whatever they want,” Jets coach Rex Ryan said. “That’s a heck of a football team. We were just going to line up and play, one way or the other.”