Kansas City, Mo. ? Coaches on both sides of the field wondered if Dante Hall was this good, or if the Rams’ coverage teams were this bad.

Hall, fighting for a job all summer, uncorked four kickoff returns for 144 yards and took back two punts for 35 yards Friday night as Kansas City scored 23 straight points and beat the winless Rams, 23-16.

St. Louis cornerback Dre' Bly (32) breaks up a second-quarter pass attempt intended for Kansas City's Johnnie Morton. The Chiefs beat the Rams, 23-16, on Friday at Arrowhead Stadium.

The victory was the second good thing that happened to the Chiefs on Friday as Pro Bowl tight end Tony Gonzalez ended his two-month holdout, signing a one-year tender.

Gonzalez, who rejected an $8 million signing bonus and a long-term deal that would have approached $28 million, signed the one-year deal for $3.05 million. He said agent Tom Condon would continue to negotiate a long-term agreement with Chiefs president Carl Peterson.

“Carl Peterson told me we’re going to bargain in good faith and I’m going to have to trust him,” Gonzalez said. “And as far as I’m concerned, that’s what I’m going to have to do.”

Also left unresolved was Peterson’s demand that Gonzalez give up his quest for a dual NFL-NBA career. While holding out, Gonzalez injured an ankle this summer playing for the Miami Heat’s tryout team.

While meeting with reporters two hours before the Chiefs’ final exhibition game, Gonzalez seemed resigned and unhappy.

Asked if he was confident a long-term deal would be struck, he said: “As confident as I can be at this point, I guess, considering what’s gone on the last couple of months. Right now, I’ve got to go out there and concentrate on football, do what I love to do, catch balls, block and help this team win.”

Hall did his part to help the cause Friday night, adding a 21-yard run on a reverse and scoring on a 46-yard pass play, giving him 246 yards of total offense on just eight touches.

“He looked pretty impressive, but I’m not sure we covered anything very well,” said St. Louis coach Mike Martz. “We’ll have to look at that very closely. I’m very concerned about that.”

Hall, a personal favorite of coach Dick Vermeil, was a running back in college who’s been having trouble adjusting to his new role as a kick returner and wide receiver.

“We’ve got a big day (Sunday), cut day,” Hall said. “I’m trying to make sure my neck is not on that guillotine. I just wanted to make sure I showed I belonged on this team and I can be effective.”

Kansas City’s Priest Holmes, last year’s NFL rushing champion, had 36 yards on 3 carries but left the game with bruised ribs and the Chiefs said it was nothing serious.

With the first-teamers in, Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk led the Rams to a 16-3 halftime lead. But the Chiefs’ reserves turned the game around entirely. The Rams (0-4), whose 14-2 record topped the NFL last season, have experienced their first winless preseason since their final year in Los Angeles in 1994.

“I don’t think the outlook on what type of season people are planning for them to have is going to change much,” Chiefs quarterback Trent Green said.

“Last year Minnesota was 4-0 in the preseason and didn’t make the playoffs. Even though we were 3-1 in the preseason, we definitely have to play better as an offense.”

Hall caught a 46-yard pass from backup quarterback Todd Collins in the third quarter for the Chiefs’ first touchdown, making it 16-13 with 4:54 left in the third.

Derrick Blaylock, all by himself in the flat, caught a 3-yard TD pass from Collins for a 20-16 lead in the fourth quarter and then broke loose on a 37-yard run to set up Morten Andersen’s 30-yard field goal that made it 23-16 with 5:08 to play.

Warner was 17-of-27 for 213 yards and one TD.

“We feel good,” he said. “I think that we needed to open up the offense a little and get into a rhythm, and we were able to do that. We weren’t quite as sharp as I think we will be.”

Faulk, who had barely played in the first three exhibition games, looked like his old self in the first half.

Faulk had had only one carry and two receptions as coaches let the superstar take it easy the first three games. But he picked up 50 yards on 11 carries against the Chiefs, including a 26-yard scamper that set up the second of Jeff Wilkins’ two 20-yard field goals.

Green had his second straight ragged game for the Chiefs (3-1), getting intercepted twice in the second quarter by cornerback Dre’ Bly. That’s five interceptions in the final two games for last year’s NFL interception leader, who had looked sharp in his first two outings this summer.

“The downside was the ineffectiveness of our offense in the first half,” Vermeil said. “It almost didn’t exist.”

Wilkins kicked his 20-yarders in the first quarter, then added a 40-yard boot for a 9-0 lead midway through the second quarter. Warner’s 10-yard scoring pass to Torry Holt put the Rams on top 16-0 with 2:22 left in the half. A roughing-the-passer penalty on Damione Lewis helped the Chiefs get a 39-yard field goal from Morten Andersen as time expired in the half.

Frank Garcia, the Rams’ backup center, was helped off the field with 3:02 left in the third quarter with an injury to his left ankle.