It's more like if NES had competition from a console like Genesis, based on the power of the systems, how "revolutionary" the games are, and the difference in the audiences targeted. PS3 is like SNES, in that Sony got trapped into following 360 towards a more niche audience like SNES followed Genesis, except that SNES was able to beat Genesis in the end. I expect the end results of Wii vs. 360 will be like PS1 vs. N64, though, with years of reletively close competition giving way to a huge Wii win over the last few years of the cycle.
So basically... I don't like your analogy.
BTW, I've played John Madden Football 1990 for SNES. According to Wikipedia, only Madden '92 skipped the SNES.
Edit: It's hilariously awful, btw. Once you have about 30 yards of open space behind you, and you can score a touchdown every play. Take the ball and run straight backwards, and eventually the entire defense runs together into one spot... on top of each other... moving as a unit...! Then you basically just have one player to dodge to score.
"[Our former customers] are unable to find software which they WANT to play."
"The way to solve this problem lies in how to communicate what kind of games [they CAN play]."
Satoru Iwata, Nintendo President. Only slightly paraphrased.
