Well, it continued to increase post-pandemic as well. And even this dip in crime may be a transient state that does not keep decreasing.
My best explanation for this is that obviously people got desperate and the economy is one of the biggest predictors of crime. So inflation is also partially responsible for crime.
Not to mention that, despite me being very opposed to conservative narratives, I can see that policing was greatly disrupted by the protests in 2020/2021. They continue to be ineffective in most large cities basically. The US still has a long way to go on handling crime and criminals.