Brett Favre's 58-yard completion to
Sidney Rice set up Ryan Longwell's fourth field goal, and Baltimore's
Steve Hauschka missed a 44-yard field goal at the final whistle,
allowing the Minnesota Vikings to remain undefeated with a 33-31
victory on Sunday.
Favre threw for 278 yards and three
touchdowns, but the Vikings (6-0) nearly blew this one when they let
the Ravens erase a 17-point deficit with 10 minutes to play.
Joe Flacco threw for 385 yards and
two touchdowns for the Ravens (3-3), who scored twice on drives that
totaled just 56 seconds to take a 31-30 lead with 3:37 to play.
But Hauschka pushed his field goal wide left, giving the Ravens their third straight loss.
This was billed as the first true
test of the season for the Vikings, who came in having beaten five
teams with a combined record of 7-17. One of those victories was a
Favre comeback for the ages, when he threw a TD to Greg Lewis in the
closing seconds to beat the 49ers.
He had another big throw in that 40-year-old right arm on Sunday against the Ravens, the big play to Rice.
The Vikings took a 14-0 lead in the
first 9 minutes and led 27-10 when Visanthe Shiancoe caught his second
TD of the game with 10:08 to play. But Flacco was just getting started.
He threw a 32-yard TD to Mark
Clayton. After a field goal by Longwell, Flacco capped a 49-second
drive with a 12-yard TD to Derrick Mason, and it was 30-24.
Ray Lewis and the Ravens' proud
defense came up with their first big stop all day, and Ray Rice's
33-yard run gave Baltimore its first lead 7 seconds after it got the
ball back.
Stunned and reeling, the Vikings
turned to Favre — this was just the situation they signed him for two
weeks into training camp. He pump-faked and unloaded to Rice, who beat
Frank Walker for the 58-yard catch.
But coach Brad Childress played it
conservatively with three straight runs, and Longwell's 31-yard field
goal gave Flacco one more chance with 1:49 to go.
He completed four passes for 35
yards on the drive, but didn't get quite close enough. Hauschka, who
auditioned for the Vikings in training camp last year, pushed his kick
way left, and the Metrodome crowd went wild.
Sidney Rice had six catches for a
career-high 176 yards and Adrian Peterson became the second running
back in a row to top 100 against the Ravens' defense. He finished with
148 yards on 22 carries.
Ray Rice had 10 catches for 117 yards and rushed for 77 more and two scores for the Ravens, who have lost three in a row.
The Vikings' defense was dominant
early, forcing the Ravens to punt on their first five possessions as
Favre and the offense staked Minnesota to a two-touchdown lead.
But Pro Bowl cornerback Antoine
Winfield left in the second quarter with a foot injury, and Flacco
started picking apart the depleted secondary in the second half.