Bad night, but a few positive of note

For a fleeting moment Saturday night, Bears fans glimpsed Mike Martz's promised land.

As left tackle Chris Williams protected Jay Cutler's blind side by standing up to Joey Porter's bull rush midway through the first quarter at Soldier Field, Cutler rifled a 41-yard bomb to Johnny Knox.

For added style points, Knox made the catch despite getting hit too soon by Arizona cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.

Alas, that stuck out as one of the few positives for the fans to carry out of the Bears' final home exhibition.

The Cardinals earned a 14-9 victory as the Bears remained winless in a haze of sacks, interceptions, failed field-goal attempts and flummoxed defensive backs.

But since this was "a glorified practice," as Bears coach Lovie Smith put it, let's practice some optimism (just in case it's necessary this season) and hit on those positives first.

• Chester Taylor did the elusive backup running back thing and made everybody swoon.

Midway through the second quarter, the Bears' $12.5-million off-season pickup eluded an arm tackle in the backfield, shimmied Toler into a missed dive, and kept changing direction for a 34-yard run.

"I was just running for my life," Taylor claimed. "There was a defender right there, so I just broke the tackle and reversed the field."

• Ordered to start making plays by a coaching staff impatient for progress, second-year defensive end Jarron Gilbert sacked third-string quarterback John Skelton and forced him to fumble on the last play of the third quarter.

Well, that's about it for the positives - save Benet Academy grad Dan LeFevour's fourth-quarter touchdown pass. They certainly didn't outweigh the negatives.

• Right tackle Frank Omiyale earned two holding calls.

One came on the same play Arizona defensive end Calais Campbell whipped past Williams' outside shoulder and sacked Cutler while forcing a fumble.

The starting offensive line surrendered 4 sacks in 25 Cutler dropbacks, though Cutler tripped on one when he sensed the pocket collapsing.

"The pressure, we talked about the same thing last week, but we have to do something about that," Smith said. "Jay is under too much pressure. It's kind of as simple as that."

• On Arizona's first scoring drive, journeyman quarterback Derek Anderson converted on third-and-8, third-and-8 and third-and-7 to keep the drive alive.

"We should win third-and-longs," Smith said. "We were in those situations last week and didn't come through. We have to be able to capitalize on that."

• When the Cardinals' passers got bored with finding holes in the Bears' secondary with their short and midrange throws, running back Tim Hightower started making the safeties look silly.

Hightower kicked off Arizona's third-quarter touchdown drive by shucking Chris Harris' weak shoulder tackle and rambling for 29 yards. Hightower found Harris waiting for him in the hole up the middle on the next play, so he juked his way past Harris.

Not content with that, he put a move on safety Danieal Manning a few yards later that left him grasping at air and led to a 13-yard gain that should have been a loss.

"Absolutely," said Harris when asked if the Bears missed too many tackles. "I accounted for about three of them. That's one thing I've got to correct for next week."