The Dolphins stopped running the ball during the 1984 game at San Diego and never returned to the running game for a decade. It was too little running, not too much running. I've detailed those comical numbers many times, like somehow being outrushed 40-8 by San Diego in that playoff defeat despite leading the entire game and often by wide margin
That Marino era was the second most boring stretch in franchise history, behind only the Tannehill era. From season to season there was no reason to expect anything to change, and it did not.