It’s hard to fathom that someone at some point wouldn’t have thought, “*hmmm, maybe just standing in a big line waiting to get shot isn’t the most optimal tactic*”
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Smooth bore muskets had terrible accuracy, especially in battlefield conditions. Massing your troops meant massing your firepower which meant being much more likely to hit someone. Another factor is that the bayonet charge was also the culmination of most battles. Lines would match forward, pausing to shoot and reload then when they were within sprinting distance they would charge and it became hand to hand combat, so if your troops are spread out and taking cover they won’t hit many of the opposing troops then will get overrun by the charge. A third factor was that muskets are loaded from the end of the barrel, and it’s almost impossible to reload lying or even knelling down.
All that said, skirmish groups were definitely a thing where a smaller group of musketeers would harass larger formations, jumping in, firing shots then running away.
The invention of the Minié ball and rifled barrels made the weapons much more accurate and powerful, but it took a long time for tactics to completely evolve with the new technology.
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