Following a chilly outdoor practice on Monday, coach Jim Schwartz opened with a quip about the cooler weather.

“We had a good November practice, back on Wednesday, 96 on Saturday, 55 today, interesting,’’ Schwartz said with a smile.

He could have held the session indoors and cranked up the heat to closer simulate the conditions the Lions will face in their opener on Sunday at Tampa Bay. The outlook calls for a high of 89, but it could be 20 degrees warmer on the field.

That’s not Schwartz’s style.

While many coaches like to replicate the conditions they will face (Bo Schembechler was famous for this), Schwartz is not among them.

“That’s foolishness. We don’t pipe in crowd noise, we don’t open up the doors and make it cold and we don’t try to smoke the team out. Our team’s in good shape, we’ll be hydrated and ready to go, we’ll be ready to play the game,’’ Schwartz said. “We’ll worry about playing the game not stuff like that.

“We open the season down in Tampa, our last game of the season is in Lambeau. We have to be ready for a lot of different things this year,’’ Schwartz added.

It’s not like the Lions can’t handle the heat especially after some steamy days during training camp.

Obviously Schwartz’s goal is to have them more focused on the Bucs, than on Mother Nature.

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