PITTSBURGH — Art Rooney II isn't quite sure what to make of what the Pittsburgh Steelers president called one of the “craziest” seasons he's experienced during his 50-plus years around the NFL.

The Steelers lost quarterback Ben Roethlisberger at halftime of Week 2. They pulled off an audacious trade for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick that had Rooney “pacing the floor” as he weighed the pros and cons of the franchise trading a first-round draft pick for the first time in more than half a century. They spent the final 14 weeks jockeying between Mason Rudolph and undrafted rookie free agent quarterback Devlin “Duck” Hodges.

And still Pittsburgh was in playoff contention on the final day of the regular season before finishing 8-8, a testament to what Rooney described as a “great job” by head coach Mike Tomlin.

“I was proud of the way our guys kept fighting through all the adversity, and unfortunately we couldn't keep it going there the last few weeks of the season,” Rooney said on Wednesday. “But at least we had our chance and maybe with a little more stability at the quarterback position we could have gone a little farther.”

Rooney expects that stability under center to return in 2020. Roethlisberger remains in the early stages of rehabilitation after undergoing surgery to repair his right elbow in September, but expects to pick up the pace in the near future.

Both Rudolph and Hodges played well at times and skittishly at others as the Steelers settled in the bottom five in the league in yards passing, touchdown passes and interceptions. Rudolph endured what Rooney described as an “unusual” season.

“Hopefully it was something, what's the old story, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger?” Rooney said. “Hopefully it's that kind of situation for him. But I think we're all pretty comfortable with Mason coming back as our backup and being a guy that can continue to develop.”

To help speed up the process, the Steelers hired Matt Canada as quarterbacks coach on Wednesday. Canada spent two years as the offensive coordinator at the University of Pittsburgh before moving on to LSU and Maryland.