Games like Monday night at home — under the lights, on national TV, desperate for a win in the face of adversity with their starting quarterback out indefinitely — are exactly why the Jets signed Le’Veon Bell to that $52.5 million contract in the offseason.

They brought in the former Steelers star running back to be their best player, particularly in games like this.

The problem for the Jets in Monday night’s dreadful 23-3 loss to the Browns at MetLife Stadium was this: One player versus 11 never has been a winning formula in the NFL. It’s never worked in league history.

And that’s about all the Jets had going for them on offense against the Browns defense in a game that set offensive football back decades: Bell left, Bell right and Bell up the middle.

There was one moment of truth on this night that best symbolized the plight of Bell and the Jets: A fourth-and-2 from the Cleveland 12-yard line late in the third quarter with the Jets trailing the Browns 16-3 and with still a flicker of hope to get back into a game they’d been out of all night.

Third-string quarterback Luke Falk, under some duress, threw to Bell in the left flat and he did his best to juke Cleveland defenders, but he was stopped a half-yard short of a first down by Browns cornerback T.J. Carrie and linebacker Joe Schobert.

Afterward, Bell blamed himself for not picking up the first down.

“I should have gotten it,’’ he said. “It was all me. Period. I’ve just got to be a playmaker [and] make a play.’’

The mistake Jets coach Adam Gase made on that sequence, knowing it was four-down territory, was to have Falk pass the ball on third-and-2 — a ball that was overthrown to Robby Anderson in the end zone. It was a play call right out of the Overthinking 101 text book.

Had Gase simply run Bell twice, the odds were very much in his favor that the Jets would convert a first down and possibly score a TD to cut the Cleveland lead to 16-10.

“I was confident in the play call,’’ Bell said. “Of course, in hindsight we can sit here and say we should have called something different on third-and-2, but if we pick that up, we’re not even having this conversation. If we execute the call, the play call is fine.

“Obviously, it’s third-and-2 and those guys [the Browns] are thinking run, so we’re just trying to finesse a little bit. That’s what makes coach Gase a good play-caller.’’

Not on that sequence.

The Jets turnover on downs gave the ball to the Browns at the Cleveland 11 and, on the next play, Baker Mayfield connected with Odell Beckham Jr. on a short slant over the middle that Beckham converted into an 89-yard TD catch and run.

Now it was 23-3 Browns and the game was over.

Bell’s worst play of the night was a fumble, forced by a big hit from Schobert after a 17-yard reception late in the game with the Jets trailing 23-3. The ball was recovered by Carrie, making it the same combination of Cleveland players who denied him that first down on fourth-and-2.

“The fumble and the fourth-and-2, those are two plays I wish I could go back and do over,’’ Bell said. “I’ll learn from it, watch the film observe myself and critique myself and I’ll be better.’’