When it rains, the ball becomes heavy, this does two things, makes the trajectory of the kick flatter and it reduces the distance of which you can kick it. This is the primary reason that both special teams units were making big plays on returns. In this game due to the conditions and the effectiveness of the vikings return unit against us it was the right call.
Even if the weather were good, however, with less than 10 seconds to go in the game, a squib kick is an excellent choice because the amount of time left if they were to down it near their own forty would be about the same as the average nfl play (6-8 seconds). When a player is tackled in the middle of the field, it takes an extra second or two for the referee to blow the whistle and the timeout to be called, this means that when you throw a strike down the middle to setup a field goal, you would lose the game.
The Bears lost to the Falcons deep play to Roddy White years ago because the Bears called a Soft Cover-2 zone, when all they had to do was play Man-2 and have their safeties camping the sidelines, since any throw down the middle of the field would have to be a touchdown or the clock would run out. Instead, the Bears played Cover-2 zone, and had 3 to 4 guys in the middle of the field that were of no consequence on the play. In addition to this, the Bears also rushed the passer with 4 guys, usually this would be a great choice, and pressure is a good element in almost every NFL play. However, when the other teams only chance to score is to heave the ball into the endzone or get a quick pass down the sidelines, the use of 4 rushers instead of 3 or even 2 rushers seems excessive. They simply didn't play prevent defense with an emphasis of guarding the sidelines.
Thus, It was actually a bad defensive play call, not a poor special teams play call that gave the Falcons a chance to win.
