Week 12 fantasy football winners and losers

— -- As we do each Sunday right here, we recap the week's winners and losers from a fantasy perspective, complete with applicable game and historical data. Check back after the conclusion of the 1 and 4 p.m. ET (and, when applicable, Sunday Night Football) games for our picks of the week's best and worst.

Winners

Colin Kaepernick, QB, San Francisco 49ers: Though his final-drive comeback push ultimately fell two yards short, Kaepernick's final tally of 32 fantasy points helped him set a new regular-season career high. His only better score came in the 2012 divisional playoffs, when he set an all-time record for an individual player in a postseason game with 46 fantasy points. The common thread between those games: Kaepernick rushed for more than 100 yards, those representing two of his four career games (regular season or postseason) with at least that many (also 2014 Week 16 and the 2013 conference championship game).

Kaepernick was started in only 9.3 percent of ESPN leagues on Sunday, his second-highest start percentage this season (17.3 percent, Week 8), despite the fact that he has scored at least 19 fantasy points in each of his past four contests. In fact, he now has 95 fantasy points combined during that four-week span, tops among quarterbacks (pending the outcomes of Aaron Rodgers' and Russell Wilson's games).

Drew Brees, QB, New Orleans Saints: His 32 fantasy points matched Kaepernick's total for the highest in any of the 1 p.m. ET games, and they gave him his 20th career contest of 30-plus fantasy points, extending his all-time record among quarterbacks. In fact, he moved into a tie with LaDainian Tomlinson for the most 30-point games at any skill position (20). It was also particularly unexpected considering the matchup, as the opposing Los Angeles Rams had entered having allowed only two games of 15 or more fantasy points to an opposing quarterback: Matthew Stafford's 27 in Week 6 and Jameis Winston's 25 in Week 3.

Taylor Gabriel, WR, Atlanta Falcons: With Julio Jones finding difficulty separating from Arizona Cardinals cornerback Patrick Peterson, Gabriel exploded for a career-high 21 fantasy points, giving him a fourth consecutive double-digit performance. Owned in only 3.45 percent and started in 0.51 percent of ESPN leagues, Gabriel's ownership should be on the rise heading into Week 13. Still, a caveat: He has only 18 targets in his past four games, trailing Jones' 38 and Mohamed Sanu's 27.

Mark Ingram and Tim Hightower, RB, New Orleans Saints: Anyone who watched their game on Sunday would've declared Ingram the superior performer of the two, but Hightower's 50-yard receiving touchdown in the fourth quarter helped propel him into the upper tiers of his position on the fantasy scoreboard, so both earned the nod here. Started in 42.4 percent of ESPN leagues, Ingram scored a position-best (through the 4 p.m. ET games) 28 fantasy points, and Hightower, started in 24.0 percent, chipped in 16 of his own.

Since his benching following a first-quarter fumble in Week 8, Ingram has averaged 8.1 yards per rushing attempt and 8.7 yards per touch, significantly greater than his 4.2 and 4.6 career averages before that point. They also give him huge advantages compared to Hightower's 3.9 yards per rushing attempt and 5.0 yards per touch since Ingram's fumble, despite the fact that Hightower has had more rushing attempts (73-61) and total touches (88-70) since Week 9. In addition, Hightower has only one touchdown on his seven carries (plus an additional target) within five yards of his opponent's goal line since Ingram's fumble. It might remain frustrating deciding between these two in coming weeks, but Ingram sure looks like the superior talent.

LeSean McCoy, RB, Buffalo Bills: He suffered a dislocated left thumb in Week 11, leading to surgery this past Monday, a "questionable" injury-report listing and a splint on the digit during Sunday's game, but his game status was never in doubt and his fantasy owners were supremely confident in his health, starting him in 94.1 percent of ESPN leagues (sixth-highest among running backs). McCoy appeared to have no issues whatsoever on Sunday, scoring 27 fantasy points, his second-best single-game effort this season (32, Week 6) and tied for the fifth best of his career, just six points shy of his personal best (33, 2013 Week 14). He now gets three consecutive matchups against teams that ranked among the top 12 in terms of fantasy points allowed per game to running backs, the Oakland Raiders (Week 13), Pittsburgh Steelers (Week 14) and Cleveland Browns (Week 15).

Matt Barkley, QB, and Marquess Wilson, Deonte Thompson and Daniel Brown, WRs, Chicago Bears: Though none seriously challenged for their respective position leads in fantasy points on Sunday -- Wilson's 18 came the closest -- their performances were notable for how unexpected they were. Here are their final tallies, as well as both their ownership and start percentages in ESPN leagues:

• Barkley: 20 fantasy points, 0.35 percent owned, 0.13 percent started
• Wilson: 18 fantasy points, 0.15 percent owned, 0.01 percent started
• Thompson: 10 fantasy points, 0.07 percent owned, 0.04 percent started
• Brown: 8 fantasy points, 0.00 percent owned, 0.00 percent started

Congratulations if you were one of the precious few to be bold enough to start any of this quartet, but the greater takeaway here is the dreadful slump in which the opposing Tennessee Titans defense finds itself: The Titans have allowed 112 fantasy points to quarterbacks and 152 to wide receivers the past five weeks combined, ranking among the league's leaders during that time span. Unfortunate for fantasy owners -- and fortunate for them -- the Titans are on their bye in Week 13.

Ryan Tannehill, QB, Miami Dolphins: The winner in the aforementioned 49ers-Dolphins game, Tannehill managed a season-high 26 fantasy points, his best single-game effort since he scored 27 in 2015 Week 7 and only three shy of his career high of 29, set in 2014 Week 16. As with Kaepernick, few fantasy owners were so bold as to risk starting Tannehill, as he was active in only 8.3 percent of ESPN leagues.

Mike Evans, WR, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: For the third time in his past six games, Evans reached the 20-fantasy-point threshold, his 22 earning a share of the lead among receivers in Sunday's games (through the 4 p.m. ET block). It tied his fourth-best single-game effort of his career, and gave him a wide receiver-leading 159 for the season, plus 232 in PPR formats, just four behind Antonio Brown for the lead using that scoring. Those put him on pace for 231 and 337 come season's end, and if those paces stick, they would both place him among the top 25 best single-season totals since 1960.

Malcolm Mitchell, WR, New England Patriots: For the second consecutive week, Mitchell managed at least 15 fantasy points, posting 16 on Sunday to follow up his 15 from Week 11. Despite last week's outburst, his start percentage in ESPN leagues scarcely moved, as he was active in only 0.28 percent, barely up from 0.22 in Week 11. Mitchell was targeted seven times on Sunday, twice in the red zone, giving him three of the Patriots' 13 red-zone targets in the past two weeks combined. He'll surely be one of the week's more popular pickups.

Ted Ginn Jr., WR, Carolina Panthers: It was his 88-yard touchdown in the third quarter that seemed to get Cam Newton and the Panthers' passing game going -- at least until their failed final drive of the game -- with the final result being 18 fantasy points for Ginn, his best single-game total since he had 20 in 2015 Week 15 -- that was the third of three consecutive games worth at least 20 fantasy points. Ginn led the Panthers in targets, setting a new season high with 10, making his owners who started him in 3.0 percent of ESPN leagues quite happy.

Jonathan Stewart, RB, Panthers: For the third time in his past six games, Stewart reached the 20-fantasy-point plateau, his 21 matching his season best (also Week 8). It's the first time that he has had multiple 20-point performances within a single year since 2009.

Losers

Brandin Cooks, WR, Saints: Nine different, individual Saints players scored at least one fantasy point on Sunday -- and, in fact, all of them scored at least five -- which is one more than Cooks had targets on Sunday.

It's not often that you see a team put 49 points onto the scoreboard, get a 32-point fantasy performance by its quarterback and have its perceived No. 1 wide receiver get a big, fat zero, but that's precisely what Cooks did. It was the first time in his 37 career NFL games that he was shut out on the fantasy scoreboard, and it allowed Michael Thomas (112) to recapture the team wide receiver lead from Cooks (106) for the season.

Lamar Miller, RB, Houston Texans: His up-and-down season -- certainly one influenced by his own injuries as well as by the poor play of his quarterback, Brock Osweiler -- continued with a four-point Week 12, his second-worst individual score of 2016 and his worst in any of his 17 career games in which he had at least 20 touches. Miller's start percentage in ESPN leagues has unfortunately been dropping as a result of his recent play, as his 85.1 percent number was his lowest of the season.

Allen Robinson, WR, Jacksonville Jaguars: Here we go again? Robinson's two fantasy points, those on four targets, represented his second-worst single-game score of 2016 (0, Week 7). Most aggravating was the fact that his quarterback, Blake Bortles, scored 21 fantasy points, though Bortles' score was largely fueled by his career-high 81 rushing yards, and his 13 completions and 126 passing yards made it clear that Robinson was destined to struggle. Robinson was started in 78.8 percent of ESPN leagues, 13th highest among wide receivers, and his fantasy output is unlikely to improve much in the coming weeks, seeing as his next three matchups are against the Denver Broncos (Week 13), Minnesota Vikings (Week 14) and Houston Texans (Week 15).

Julio Jones, WR, Falcons: As noted above, Patrick Peterson caused some real matchup problems for Jones, who finished with three fantasy points (and seven in PPR scoring) on seven targets. It was the fourth time this season that Jones had been held to three fantasy points or fewer, and in two of the previous three, he also had to deal with shadow coverage by his opponent's top cornerback. Unfortunately, Jones was still started by his owners in 96.7 percent of ESPN leagues.

Rob Gronkowski, TE, Patriots: An early exit due to a back injury greatly influenced his final numbers -- zero fantasy points on two targets -- but considering he was started by his owners in 27.9 percent of ESPN leagues, it did have an adverse impact upon many teams. Gronkowski entered the week coming off a chest/lung injury, but was able to play only seven of 12 snaps before departing. It was the second time this season that he was shut out on the fantasy scoreboard while playing fewer than 15 snaps (also Week 3).

Russell Wilson, QB, Seattle Seahawks: His 10 fantasy points exemplify the elevated floor from which mobile quarterbacks benefit; Wilson's performance was a truly awful one merely propped up by his 80 yards rushing (eight of his 10 fantasy points). Started in 67.0 percent of ESPN leagues, sixth-highest among quarterbacks, Wilson turned the football over twice without converting a touchdown, making him only the second starting quarterback to fail to score a touchdown of any type against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this season ( Derek Anderson, Week 5).

Doug Baldwin, WR, Seahawks: Wilson's struggles dragged down Baldwin's performance, as the wide receiver managed just three fantasy points on his eight targets. It matched his second-worst score of 2016, and he did it in a game in which he was started in 83.1 percent of ESPN leagues, his second-highest percentage of 2016 behind only his 83.6 in Week 8.

Thomas Rawls, RB, Seahawks: Now back in the clear starting role for the Seahawks, Rawls struggled to find much running room, scoring only three fantasy points on his 12 rushing attempts. It was the third time this season that he was held to five fantasy points or fewer, and it came in a game in which he was started in 81.7 percent of ESPN leagues, 13th-highest among running backs.

Amari Cooper, WR, Oakland Raiders: The Raiders scored 35 points and their quarterbacks attempted a combined 39 passes, but all Cooper could muster was two fantasy points on his seven targets, as Michael Crabtree was once again their wide receiver standout (11 fantasy points, 20 using PPR scoring). It was the second time this season Cooper was held to a score that low (2, Week 7), and he did it in a week in which he was the sixth most-started wide receiver in ESPN leagues (95.5 percent).