After staging a dramatic fourth quarter comeback that saw the Ravens overcome a 17-point deficit, the ball was on the foot of Steve Hauschka, who Baltimore chose to keep this offseason instead of one of the most accurate kickers in NFL history.

Brett Favre’s 58-yard completion to Sidney Rice setup 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.

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 totalled 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.

“I want that one back,” Hauschka said. “But I’m going to have to move on from it, and I think it’ll make me stronger in the long run.

“You can’t always get the result you want, and I’m case in point of that. Obviously it’s disappointing to lose and especially for me to miss that field goal and let my team down. We’ll have to move on from it, and hopefully I can show my team I’ll make the next one.”

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.