The Los Angeles Galaxy’s turbulent season — and its slender hopes for a playoff spot — came to an end over the weekend when it lost 0–1 to the Chicago Fire.

Despite the millions of dollars heaped upon David Beckham by the Galaxy, the English superstar turned out to be a total flop on the field. And it was a rather foolish flop, too, for it was Beckham’s own insistence on playing too many games, and on playing when he clearly wasn’t fit, that sabotaged his performance.

The awful, unthinkable truth is that the team did better without Beckham. Of the seven games played by Beckham (three of them as a starter), the Galaxy won only one, tying one and losing the other five.

Beckham’s contributions shift from feeble to downright embarrassing when one looks at the Galaxy’s record over the past month. During that period, the Galaxy — which had been virtually written off as a playoff contender — fought its way back from the abyss with a remarkable five-game winning streak. Five games, it needs to be pointed out, in which the injured Beckham did not play.

But with two crucial games of the season remaining, Beckham was declared fit. This began to look like the Hollywood script that had been waiting to happen ever since Beckham arrived in Los Angeles in July: the golden boy leading his team to the playoffs, and (well, there had to be a happy ending) on to an impossible victory in the MLS Cup final.

Beckham, who had not played a competitive game in seven weeks, duly took the field as a 68th-minute substitute against the New York Red Bulls, with the score tied at 1–1. Beckham wandered around ineffectually, looking exactly like someone who hadn’t played for seven weeks. The score remained 1–1, and the Galaxy’s winning streak came to an end.

This meant that the Galaxy went to Chicago on Sunday needing a win against the Fire. Quite a neat scenario, as far as MLS was concerned: the final game of its season, with both teams seeking the final playoff berth, and with its two most ballyhooed designated players — the Mexican Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Beckham — facing each other.

Blanco played the entire game for the Fire. But once again, Beckham came off the bench, this time in the 58th minute. He entered as the Galaxy was being outplayed and was grimly hanging on to a 0–0 score. There was to be no happy ending. The Galaxy lost this one 0–1, bringing its season to a close with a sad whimper of failure, rather than the triumphant bang that had been forecast.

Beckham had again looked hopelessly out of form. “You could tell he was tired at the end of the game,” the coach of the Galaxy, Frank Yallop, said. “He had some nice long passes and his free kicks are always dangerous.”

But alongside those nice long passes was one disastrous short pass. It came right at the end of the game, when Beckham made a hash of a simple 10-yard back pass in midfield. The ball, evidently intended for teammate Mike Randolph, went instead to — of all people — Blanco, who passed it quickly to Calen Carr, who moved it on to John Thorrington, who scored.

Not to overdramatize: The goal was not fatal because the Galaxy was doomed to extinction even with the score at 0–0 — it needed a win. That Beckham’s final touch of his first season should be a miscue that led to an opponent’s goal is suitably symbolic: The first MLS season of the Beckham Era has not followed that Hollywood script.

Even so, there can be no denying that despite his stumbling contributions on the field, Beckham has had a tremendously positive effect on MLS in general. He has brought an amazing amount of publicity for, and interest in, both MLS and American soccer in general.

The designated player rule was introduced with Beckham very much in mind, and it has been an unqualified success. This is not necessarily reflected in the performances of the individual players. While Blanco and the Red Bulls’ Juan Pablo Angel have starred, Beckham and the other Red Bull DP, Claudio Reyna, have not. But the buzz surrounding Beckham’s arrival quickly led to an interest in other big-name foreign signings, and suddenly MLS acquired an air of glamour and excitement.

The boost was much needed. The previous MLS attempt to hype a major signing came in 2004 and was, incredibly, built around a 14-year-old Ghanaian-American, Freddy Adu. After three less than spectacular seasons in MLS, Adu has now gone to Europe, joining the Portuguese club Benfica.

A young American starlet has departed, a veteran foreign star has arrived. This is not a pattern that will please everyone. In fact, it is the very opposite of what the loudest boosters of American soccer want to see. But it is likely to be the shape of things for MLS in the foreseeable future.

pgardner@nysun.com