MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Vikings fired coach Leslie Frazier on Monday morning, one year after they made the playoffs and one day after they finished a 5-10-1 season. After going 10-6 in 2012, the Vikings regressed this year, done in by a leaky defence and an ongoing inability to find stability at quarterback. Frazier finished 21-33-1 in three-plus seasons. The 54-year-old Frazier had one season remaining on his contract. "We have tremendous respect and appreciation for Leslie and what he has done for the Minnesota Vikings," owner Zygi Wilf said in a statement distributed by the team. "He stepped in and established a strong positive culture here, and he has been the consummate professional as our head coach and in this community. Making this change is difficult but what we determined is best for the organization." The Vikings planned an afternoon news conference at Winter Park. Quarterback Christian Ponder sputtered and produced three straight turnover-plagued performances to start the season. The Vikings lost all three, on last-minute touchdowns to Chicago and Cleveland. They lost two other games and tied one in similar fashion, squandering leads inside the 52-second mark in all five of those. Though veteran cornerback Antoine Winfield was cut before the season to save space under the salary cap, the defence that has been Fraziers expertise faltered badly. Drafting Ponder 12th overall in 2011 was the primary responsibility of general manager Rick Spielman, but the shaky quarterback situation was far from the only problem for this team. Hired by Brad Childress to be the defensive co-ordinator in 2007, Frazier interviewed for seven head coach openings over a three-year span: Atlanta and Miami in 2008, Denver, Detroit and St. Louis in 2009, and Buffalo and Seattle in 2010. Finally, his opportunity came with the Vikings when Childress was fired in the middle of a messy 2010 season. Credited with keeping the team on an even keel while attention swirled around Brett Favre and the Metrodome roof collapsed the night before a scheduled game, Frazier went 3-3 as the interim, including an improbable win at playoff-bound Philadelphia after the NFL postponed that contest by two days because of a forecast snowstorm. Frazier got the job for good in 2011, but after a lockout-shortened off-season, the Vikings went 3-13 behind an ineffective Donovan McNabb and then rookie Ponder at quarterback. In 2012, they staged a remarkable turnaround, riding Adrian Peterson to a spot in the playoffs. Childress had his contract extended in 2009 while the Vikings were on their way to the NFC championship game, but the team came unglued the following fall. Wary of a similarly expensive over-commitment, Wilf and the front office merely picked up a fourth-year option on Fraziers deal last January, putting him in a prove-it situation for 2013. Right away, his future here turned grim. And as widely liked as Frazier has been throughout the organization, the ultra-competitive landscape of the NFL rarely allows coaches with two double-digit-defeat records in three years to keep their jobs. His playing career as a cornerback for Chicago cut short by a knee injury in the Super Bowl, Frazier soon ventured into coaching, building the program at Trinity College from scratch in 1988. Fifteen years later, he became the defensive co-ordinator for Cincinnati. With two years as an assistant in Indianapolis, Frazier came from the Tony Dungy mould of coaches, a soft-spoken man of deep Christian faith who has excelled at creating a culture of harmony and respect around the locker room. After the Vikings beat Detroit on Sunday to wrap up the season, Frazier stumped to stay. He said he was proud of the job he has done here. "I just have a lot of belief in my abilities as a coach and have a lot of belief in the guys on our team, a lot of belief in our staff, and for that reason you dont have to walk in fear," Frazier said at the Metrodome. "You just know that things are going to work out." Nike React Clearance . Riethers apparent stamp on Manchester United midfielder Adnan Januzaj during Saturdays Premier League match at Craven Cottage was missed by the match officials. A three-man panel of former referees reviewed the incident and all agreed that it was a sending-off offence. Cheap Nike React Shoes .J. -- Jaromir Jagr has hit so many NHL milestones this season for the New Jersey Devils that he is starting to downplay them. http://www.wholesalenikereactaustralia.com/. -- EJ Manuel followed the worst game of his career with the best. Nike React Womens Australia . - The Oakland Athletics say they are stopping negotiations to extend their lease at the Coliseum. Nike React Australia . George Hill had 13 points and seven rebounds for the Pacers, who stayed atop the overall NBA standings despite losing twice on their West Coast trip. Los Angeles kept it close into the second half before the Pacers finished an easy win over the injury-riddled Lakers, who have lost five straight.Russias ban from world athletics has been extended, with the IAAF needing more time to investigate their progress in improving their anti-doping record. Rune Andersen, president of the task force looking into Russian reforms after Novembers suspension, said significant progress had been made but not enough to justify lifting the sanctions.The view of the task force is that there is significant work still to be done to satisfy the reinstatement conditions, Andersen said. We still need to interview athletes and coaches named in the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) commission report to understand the scope and nature of previous doping activities.IAAF president Sebastian Coe said a final decision on Russias reinstatement might not be made until May, only three months before the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.Coe said: While progress has been made, the council unanimously agreed that the Russian authorities need to undertake further significant work to satisfy the reinstatement condition, (so) RUSAF (the Russian Athletic Federation) should not be reinstated to the IAAF at this stage.My job is not to get as many athletes to the Olympic Games as possible. The job of the council is to make sure those athletes who are going to the Games aree clean under systems based on integrity.ddddddddddddThere were no pre-ordained outcomes today. We were satisfied, unanimously, that more work needed to be done, although some progress has been made, before we can be asked to make the decision.The Rio athletics programme begins on August 12, but a May reinstatement could make it tough for Russian athletes to record Olympic qualifying times. IAAF president Sebastian Coe said Russia needs to show more while identifying five other countries needing critical care Russia were banned in November following a report by an independent WADA commission that found evidence of state-sponsored doping and large-scale corruption in Russian athletics.Further to the Russia update, the IAAF also identified five other countries in critical care regarding their drug-testing systems, although none has yet been handed any sanction.Ethiopia and Morocco - as a matter of urgency - need a robust testing programme put in place, Coe added. Kenya, Ukraine and Belarus need to get compliant by the end of the year. ' ' '