So much for that schism.

Three weeks after joining the Vikings -- and not long after there were reports his presence had caused a schism in the locker room -- Brett Favre has been elected as one of the Vikings' captains by his teammates for the 2009 season. The quarterback will be joined by Pro Bowl left guard Steve Hutchinson in representing the offense.

Favre, who will turn 40 on Oct. 10 and is entering his 19th NFL season, decided to end his second retirement and join the Vikings last month. With so much speculation surrounding Favre's motives for coming back, he apparently scored major points with his teammates by addressing them for 10 minutes Monday following a team meeting.

Favre's message according to those who heard it was that he came to Minnesota to win football games.

The Vikings also will have two captains on defense with linebacker E.J. Henderson and Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kevin Williams representing that unit. Kicker Ryan Longwell will be the special teams captain and will be joined by another special teams player that apparently will rotate on a game-by-game basis.

The NFL began putting an emphasis on having permanent captains a couple of years ago and while coach Brad Childress did not initially embrace the idea -- the Vikings named captains week-by-week in 2007 -- he did have his players elect captains last season. Hutchinson, Henderson and Longwell received the honors. Williams took over as the defensive captain when Henderson was lost in the fourth game of the season because of a foot injury.

It would have been a bit of a surprise if a player of Favre's stature hadn't been named a captain by the team. Favre also was named an offensive captain for the New York Jets by his teammates last season despite being with the club for less than a month at the time.

"I don't want it to be based on past performances or longevity, whatever," Favre said at the time. "All those things are important, but what's important is what I do here and how I carry myself as a teammate, what type of leader I am. But you have to vote a captain, as every team does, early in the year and I'm honored to represent this team."