Win or lose, this Chicago Bears season has been an absolute blast. Unexpected. Joyful. Resilience in action. A comeback story for the ages. A foundation to build upon.

A couple days after the Bears sent the Green Bay Packers packing, I bonded with a guy on the sidewalk about Matthew Stafford’s cold-weather stats for the Rams. The week prior, I bonded with a FedEx driver about the cost of tickets. For those prices, she suggested, the players should offer lap dances. For that idea, I suggested, she should be team president.

Also thanks to that victory over the Packers, Chicago got to know Brandon Martinez, aka Cheese Grater Guy, who appeared on screens across America grating a block of Parmesan he smuggled into Soldier Field.

“I nicked two of my fingers,” Martinez told Block Club Chicago reporter Mack Liederman, who profiled our new hero. “But yeah, I’d do it again.”

Martinez, born and raised on the Southwest Side, bought tickets with the money he earned working overtime at his job operating blenders for antifreeze and airplane deicer at a chemical plant.

“On the way to the tailgate Saturday, Martinez picked up beers and a $8.99 cheese grater with a plastic cover from Jewel-Osco,” Liederman reported.........

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